


Between Each Silence

by ghoulblogging



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Church Sex, Conflict, Dancing, Desk Sex, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fluff, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Guilt, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Mutual Pining, Pining, Romantic Bullshit, Slow Burn, Soft Max, Tender Sex, They are nice to each other, Violence, i cant help it i love being sappy, i just want them to have a nice day truly, its a long ass fanfic idk if thats good or bad, max slowly gets his shit together, sometimes i cant help but reference memes, this is my emotional support found family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:48:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 47,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22117381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghoulblogging/pseuds/ghoulblogging
Summary: Edgewater was difficult, and that wasn’t even considering the fact that Vivian Reynolds, (no, it was Vivian A. Hawthorne now) had just woken up from an unexpected 70 year cryo nap and had been unceremoniously dumped upon an unfamiliar planet with an unfamiliar culture. And that wasn’t even considering that Vivian A. Hawthorne, as a middle-aged research biologist, was in no way equipped to deal with, what could you even call it? A spat between mistreated employees and their shit company? A life or death peacekeeping mission with no perfect solution? Deciding between two societies which should succeed and fail? She still didn’t quite know what to call it, but her first twelve hours awake were less than ideal.
Relationships: The Captain/Maximillian DeSoto
Comments: 40
Kudos: 90





	1. An Impossible Sort of Person

**Author's Note:**

> first time writing in a while, first time publishing anything here, so pardon any formatting mistakes and stuff! hope people like it!!! been fixated on this game and on this bastard man. feedback more than welcome!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Edgewater was difficult, and that wasn’t even considering the fact that Vivian Reynolds, (no, it was Vivian A. Hawthorne now) had just woken up from an unexpected 70 year cryo nap and had been unceremoniously dumped upon an unfamiliar planet with an unfamiliar culture. And that wasn’t even considering that Vivian A. Hawthorne, as a middle-aged research biologist, was in no way equipped to deal with, what could you even call it? A spat between mistreated employees and their shit company? A life or death peacekeeping mission with no perfect solution? Deciding between two societies which should succeed and fail? She still didn’t quite know what to call it, but her first twelve hours awake were less than ideal._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first time writing in a while, first time publishing anything here, so pardon any formatting mistakes and stuff! hope people like it!!! been fixated on this game and on this bastard man. feedback more than welcome!

Edgewater was difficult, and that wasn’t even considering the fact that Vivian Reynolds, (no, it was Vivian A. Hawthorne now) had just woken up from an unexpected 70 year cryo nap and had been unceremoniously dumped upon an unfamiliar planet with an unfamiliar culture. And that wasn’t even considering that Vivian A. Hawthorne, as a middle-aged research biologist, was in no way equipped to deal with, what could you even call it? A spat between mistreated employees and their shit company? A life or death peacekeeping mission with no perfect solution? Deciding between two societies which should succeed and fail? She still didn’t quite know what to call it, but her first twelve hours awake were less than ideal.

By some miracle, Vivian did indeed believe that she had reached a passable solution in the area, despite nearly getting shot by Reed Tobson and his gang of tools when that solution hadn’t aligned with his own expectations. Despite getting out by the skin of her teeth, her only regret was disappointing Parvati Holcomb, her new ship’s mechanic. The young mechanic seemed to understand Vivian's decision, or at the very least was too giddy with being able to be a mechanic on a spaceship to stop and reflect on the loss of her hometown.

The decision to leave Adelaide and her deserters with power, rather than the already established Edgewater, had not been made lightly, nor had it made alone. Vivian had scoured info from everyone she had met, had consulted Parvati before her final decision, and of course she had received a plethora of advice and opinions from Edgewater’s local vicar. 

During her primary foray into the town, Vivian had come across the OSI church. She hadn’t dabbled in religion very much back on Earth, but as she was learning, even if she had, it wouldn’t be much help out here in this strange solar system. There was a lot that she was going to have to learn about Halcyon in order to survive here, and wandering into the church was her first step to figuring out how things worked out here. Vicar Maximillian De Soto certainly cut an interesting figure, seated behind his desk in the elaborately decorated building, and Vivian couldn’t help but note how he blended in with the church itself, a building she couldn’t help but notice was nicer than the others in town, with the Vicar himself sporting probably the only clean clothes she had seen in her time in Edgewater. 

Vivian’s hands reflexively went to brush some of her hair back in place and smooth down the front of her cobbled together clothing, suddenly feeling shabby in this place. It was strange, she had basically existed here for maybe two hours, but the gaze of the well-dressed Vicar made her more acutely feel how sweaty and dirtied up she had become in just that short of time. God, she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink either, since waking up things had been a whirlwind. She was well and truly a mess, but the Vicar didn’t seem to notice. As curiously as she had gazed around the well-appointed room and well-appointed man in front of her, the look he returned had seemed just as curious about her.

It was a moment before he broke the silence, “Well, hello… you’ll have to pardon me…” he said, slowly standing up, “It’s not very often someone new turns up and breaks the monotony here. Please, have a seat.” It certainly had been ages since anything interesting had happened for Max. Despite his reasons for coming here, Edgewater had proven to be both incredibly frustrating and exceedingly dull, leaving him grateful for any respite.

Vivian smiled and took a seat as instructed, “Why thank you. I’m not from around here, so anything you can tell me, even the basics, would be a good place to start” she said, trying her best to put on a charming grin. So far many of the denizens of Edgewater had been far from chatty. Vivian had been treading water in this strange new place, she was glad to have someone that could possibly give her answers. She shifted slightly in her seat, feeling his gaze upon her as they spent another moment in silence. Certainly her response had been odd, maybe even suspicious, but the Vicar didn’t seem to notice or possibly he didn’t care, and did indeed prove to be a font of information, so she readily agreed to run the errand he requested.

And so, Max De Soto had gained the book he had been searching for, realized it was in “fucking french” (his reaction had caused Vivian to burst out laughing), and wound up joining the crew of the Unreliable, and so, that’s where Max De Soto found himself walking by the cockpit to thank his new captain, and heard the tail end of her conversation with a known criminal.

“Was that….” was all he could manage to get out before the captain wheeled around, her eyes wide. For a moment there was yet another moment of silence that the two of them had seemed to be collecting. 

This time, Vivian broke the silence. Her expression of surprise faded, and weariness started to show on her face. “Ok, ok… but I’m starving, let’s do this in the kitchen while I figure out what passes for food in this godforsaken place.” Despite how disheveled she had looked coming into the church, Max hadn’t seen her this way yet, the slump of her shoulders and the expression on her face highlighted the state she was in, and suddenly he had a hundred more questions, the first of which was ‘Good law, what have you gone through in the last twenty-four hours’, but he decided to bite his tongue on that one.

Soon enough they were upstairs in the ship’s galley. Max seated himself in a chair, watching the woman he had decided to join up with rummage through the ship’s cabinets like a half starved sprat. Despite all his burning questions, he stayed patient while she attempted to find something to eat.

After a few minutes of searching, Vivian got her hands on a box of Purpleberry Crunch, unceremoniously spilling some of the contents as she opened it. “Ok so I haven’t eaten for… like 70 years. What the fuck is a Purpleberry?” It felt anticlimactic for her first meal out of stasis being cereal, and she was far too hungry to now search for some form of milk (did this planet even have milk?). So here she was, sitting on the counter of a spaceship, her space ship, in her makeshift outfit covered in dirt and blood, eating cereal while a vicar looked on. Before he could respond to the query about purpleberries, Vivian sat up, “I uh, must look pretty nuts huh?” 

“Yes, quite crazy. This whole scenario is in fact, wholly unexpected.” Max responded, though he was still at ease. Maybe this Vivian was indeed a madwoman, and joining her on this ship was going to be a mistake, but Max was actually quite intrigued to see how this was going to play out. Unexpected felt good. During her visit to his church, even with all the bizarre questions about how scientism worked and what the board was, Vivian had been bright and overall a delight to talk to, so he wasn't ready to write her off yet.

“Ok ok, I promise you, I am not that crazy. It’s just been a bit of a day…. When I told you I’m not from around here, that was a bit of an understatement...” between bites of cereal, Vivian went on to explain her situation. Frozen on the Hope with the expectation of joining a brand new colony, only to be defrosted 70 years later by a man who by all appearances seemed to be a mad scientist, and thrust into the situation of having to navigate an unfamiliar place. It could make anyone a little frayed. After she finished, there was yet another long silence, where Vivian’s brain went into a frenzy thinking about how she had rambled and how maybe after that tale she did seem crazy. 

“If anyone else would have told me that story, I would have laughed and called it bullshit.” Max responded, causing Vivian to tense up at first, but then relax. “But even from my brief experience with you, I have a feeling that you're telling the truth.” Vivian exhaled deeply, watching as Max crossed his arms, he looked a bit more at ease, but was still watching her carefully. “Besides, you don’t know what purpleberry is, so that’s a certain sign you’re telling the truth.” His expression had been flat, but at this Max started to grin, for which he received a handful of cereal thrown at his face. Soon enough, they were both laughing, partially at the absurdity of the situation, and partially with relief that the other was on the level.

“Are you going to do it? Work with Phineas Welles?” Max asked after both of their laughter had subsided. He sat back in his seat again, watching her curiously. He was actually unsure of what he wanted the answer here to be. Even with all his dedication to researching the Plan, the Vicar could still see the damage that board policies had throughout the system, and Vivian’s line of questioning when they had first met had started to make him think more critically about things. Could the Grand Architect’s plan really be having so many people in the colony live the way they were living?

“I would like two things. To lay down on the floor, and to have a drink.” Vivian replied, dodging the question for the time being. She was overwhelmed. Word vomiting her story had helped a bit, but there was a lot of information she was processing.

“Well, I can help with at least one of those.” the Vicar responded, standing up. “Follow me, I may have some alcohol stashed among my things.” Vivian quirked an eyebrow, but did indeed follow him towards his quarters, where soon enough she was sitting on the floor in Max’s new quarters and holding a small vial that did indeed contain alcohol.

“Is this like, Scientism’s version of communion wine or something?” Vivian asked as she lifted the round stopper from the unnecessarily fancy bottle. She sniffed at the contents, making a face, even in this unknown world, it seemed there were a few things around that she recognized. "Is this whiskey? Are you storing whiskey in your fancy church bottles? Does the OSI fucking party?”

Seated in his chair, the Vicar pulled the stopper out of the bottle he was holding and took a quick sip before responding. “Well, I wouldn’t say that this is typical of the OSI,” he began, “Edgewater doesn’t get very many shipments, especially when it comes to things that aren’t necessities, such as anointing oils and the like. Sometimes enterprising vicars just need to make do with what they have. And sometimes enterprising vicars find it convenient to be able to do a quick shot before a sermon.”

While he spoke, Vivian had started taking a drink from the vial, and nearly spat out what she had consumed as she heard his response. “Ok, so OSI doesn’t fucking party, but Vicar Maximillion De Soto does.” She couldn’t help but giggle.

“Something like that.” They drank a bit in silence, which by now had now evolved into a sort of comfortable science. Vivian slumped down a bit, slowly reaching her goal to lay on the floor, while Max settled comfortably in the chair, his thoughts still drifting back to his previous question from back in the galley.

“I’m not sure.” Vivian said, answering the question Max had just had on his mind unprompted. By now she was fully laying on his floor, eyes closed, the vial she had been sipping resting next to her. “I’m not really sure of anything at this moment. I think it’s worth considering. Thinking about all those other people up there, and Phineas mentioned the board chased him off when he got me, so they know and they are doing nothing. Or aren’t capable of doing anything...” she trailed off.

“And Phineas can do something…” Max replied, following her line of logic, “You’re proof of that.” If you had asked him the previous day if he had ever thought he would be considering the moral dilemma of helping a wanted criminal do a good thing, he would have laughed in your face. Life changes quickly when an impossible sort of person crash lands on your front lawn.

“It’s not like I have any other ideas, or any other purpose here.” Vivian continued. She opened her eyes, and Max could see the sadness in them. He frowned a bit, putting down his own bottle and turning slightly in his chair to face her. Vicar De Soto had seen and gotten used to his fair share of helplessness in Edgewater, but somehow watching this weary, dirty, woman, and knowing what had just happened to her, tugged at his heartstrings. 

Max stood, straightening his vestments and offering her a hand up. He wasn’t sure if she was going to take it, but after a moment she did, and he gently helped her to her feet. As he did so, a smile returned to her face briefly, though her eyes still displayed the previous weariness. As she came to a standing position his hand lingered on her arm for a moment. To steady her, he would tell himself, but as soon as he noticed, he pulled away. “You should sleep on it,” he told her, bringing his arms to his sides abruptly. “You’ve had quite the day. A good night’s rest will do you some good.”

Vivian nodded slightly, “You’re right.” she said, reaching up to give his arm a squeeze. Max stiffened slightly where he stood, his mind already overthinking the action. “Thank you Vicar De Soto-”

“I believe we’re past the point of formality, Max will suffice,” he interrupted, a small smile spreading across his face. It had been scarcely twelve hours since he had met Vivian, the stranger who had crash landed and already changed so much in Halcyon, and he was looking forward to what was going to happen next for the first time in years.

“Ok then, thank you Max, for the advice, for the whiskey, and for taking a chance on me. People seem to be doing that a lot lately… hope it works out.” Vivian shrugged and couldn’t help a bit of a chuckle.

“Me too..” Max said as she departed.


	2. Civilized Drinking Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _There was a lot of downtime as the ship flew its course to Groundbreaker, and Vivian and Max talked a lot. She started to learn more about him as well. The face he made when he was thinking hard during a conversation, how quick his wit was with a retort, how he was trying to hide his temper around her and Parvarti, and that Iceberg Aged Whiskey wasn't the only thing he had up his sleeves._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here! Thanks for all the kudos and comments! Easy way to squeeze in some backstory and characterization by making characters ask each other some questions

]A good night's rest, accompanied by a shower and some more food, did indeed do Vivian a world of good. She even managed to find some passable clothing among the former captain’s effects. She had taken to wearing some of Alex Hawthorne’s more basic clothing, denim and some plain work shirts, but the true gem among his collection was a brown leather pilot’s jacket. It was like nothing she’d seen in Halcyon so far, and she thought it suited her, especially after she had sewn the emblem of the Hope on its back, removed from her mostly unsalvageable hibernation suit.

Able to decompress a bit after the whirlwind that was her arrival in the Halcyon system, Vivian was feeling more herself again. The dread was still there, but by now she was able to see beyond it, even if it was a bit. The next few days on the ship passed uneventfully as all three of its human occupants were able to settle in fully and get some rest. 

As the days went by, Vivian learned a little more about Parvati. She wasn't much of a drinker, her story of how lonely she had been at school, and how she was quickly getting accustomed to how the Unreliable worked. Even Ada seemed to appreciate her influence. One afternoon Vivian caught Parvati pulling up the floor of her own cabin to get a better look at something, and Vivian found that this tinkering didn't alarm her in the least bit. She had trust in her new mechanic, and her new friend. "Just be careful not to trip." the captain had told her, shaking her head with a smile.

There was a lot of downtime as the ship flew its course to Groundbreaker, and Vivian and Max talked a lot. She started to learn more about him as well. The face he made when he was thinking hard during a conversation, how quick his wit was with a retort, how he was trying to hide his temper around her and Parvarti, and that Iceberg Aged Whiskey wasn't the only thing he had up his sleeves.

"You certainly heard a lot about me the other day," Vivian said casually as she sat back in her chair in the galley where she sat across from Max, "What about you? I might have been slightly crazed when you rattled off that resume of yours to me, but I remember certain non-religious skills being listed…” She traced a finger around the rim of her glass, they had upgraded drinkware from the OSI vials of that first night, though the drink was the same. Neither was particularly drunk, during their conversations they would just sip on their whiskey. ‘Some civilized drinking’ Max had called it the night before.

He eyed her warily, they had discussed a lot over the past few days, though most of it had been surface level. Vivian had asked many questions about the colony, loading up on as much info as she could from him so she could navigate her new life here. Max had tried to explain tossball to her on three separate occasions, and she in turn had tried to explain the american television show Survivor. He knew the time would come when they would both open up a bit more, he was certainly interested in knowing more, though he couldn’t help but be apprehensive, there were certain things about his past, and about himself, he didn’t like. Even so, after a brief silence he nodded, “I heard a lot about how you got here…” he started, causing Vivian to now be the one eyeing him warily, “But not much about your past beyond that. How about we go question for question?”

Vivian looked a bit surprised at the idea, but smiled nonetheless, “Sounds like fun,” she replied, leaning forward and reaching for the half empty bottle of whiskey. “But I get to go first.” She looked at him expectantly, causing him to smile a bit. He nodded as she poured some more in both of their glasses. She didn’t even take time to think before deciding on her question, “You said you can hack computers pretty well and can hold your own in a fight, where did a vicar learn how to do all that?”

The question was easy to anticipate, she had been leading up to it after all, but he took time with his answer. “That’s two questions technically,” he said, a smirk on his face, “Since I learned them different places.” Vivian pouted a bit as he paused to sip his drink. “But I’ll give it to you. I trained in computer skills at the OSI seminary, which is fairly standard when it comes to a vicar’s education. But I, being the clever boy I was, always took things a step further and did my own extracurricular learning, teaching myself to bypass security systems so I could get into the files my teachers restricted from us.”

“Clever and nosy…” Vivian commented, taking a sip from her glass.

“Yes, even at that age I had an interest in the forbidden, that journal you so kindly procured me was just one in a long line of acquisitions.” He drummed his fingers on the table a bit before continuing on, “As for the fighting, well, I learned that in prison.” As he spoke, his eyes wandered a bit, somewhat nervous, but as he finished he looked up at her again, trying to gauge her reaction.

Vivian’s expression was flat for a moment, but soon enough her eyes filled with curiosity. Max breathed a bit of a sigh of relief, she wasn’t appalled, and that was possibly the best he could hope for after dropping the old ex-convict bomb. “Hmmmmmm,” she drew out the syllable for longer than necessary, “Very interesting Max… but why-”

“Ah ah, question for question. You may save that one for next time, but first you answer mine.” His tone was almost scolding, perhaps unintentionally, but Vivian nodded, slumping back in her chair slightly as she awaited his question. A question for her, now that would take some thinking, he had precious little to go on, unlike her, who had recalled the details he had let slip so easily during their first encounter. He wracked his brain for something, thinking back on when they had first met. “When you came into my…” he trailed off a bit, clearing his throat, “well, my former church, you mentioned that you were a scientist. What did you do on Earth before you decided to come here on the Hope?”

"Good to know I'm not the only one who recalls our talks that clearly," Vivian teased with a slight smile, "I was a research biologist, I worked in a lab as part of a team that developed medicine and medical treatments." It was a canned response, one that had been practiced over many years of small talk. Vivian leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table as she started thinking about her old life. It didn't even seem that far removed at this point. To her, it felt as if she had last been at work only a week ago. Even though it had been seventy years, her time in stasis had felt like an instant. She was lost in thought for a time, within yet another moment of silence, but Max waited patiently giving her time to reflect.

"I wanted to be a doctor when I was young," she continued, "but it didn't really work out like that. Working with patients didn't wind up being the right pace for me." She shrugged a bit, it had been a while since she had thought about her career path, something inside of her still nagged that she hadn't been good enough to be a doctor. "I was better in a lab," she added, responding to her own line of thought as much as she was to Max, "and by researching treatments, I was still helping people."

"So there is indeed more to you than the stark raving mad woman I met the other day…" Max replied.

"Yeah, just a little bit more, maybe," she replied with a laugh. "So my turn next? Ok, I'll bite, since you decided to be a bit of a tease before, why did you wind up in jail? Did you rob a bank or something? Kill a guy?" She leaned forward expectantly, somewhere deep down she figured that Max, who was starting to become her friend, didn't do anything that extreme. Though, there was still something thrilling about wondering. He had told her he was good in a fight, though she was yet so see him in action. Could her new friend, this smug smarty pants, truly be a ruffian and a brute deep down?

Max watched her, amused by the anticipation he sensed coming off her, "Well, I don't want to disappoint, but the circumstances of my imprisonment are far less exciting than all that. At this rate, it probably won't come as a surprise, in Halcyon, you're more likely to be sent to prison for having a dissenting opinion than for committing any sort of traditional crime. With my interest in studying heretical texts and my talent of getting my nose into places I shouldn't, it was only a matter of time before the Board and some higher ups at the OSI took noticed and shipped me off to Tartarus."

Even with the comparatively tame explanation, it didn't seem that Vivian was disappointed. "You're right, that totally tracks for Halcyon," she replied rolling her eyes, "the cops in Edgewater did ask me to do a few murders now that I think back on it." She frowned slightly recalling the bounties from Edgewater, fighting marauders hadn't exactly been the highlight of her adventures in Emerald Vale. Luckily she was able to hold her own and defend herself during her travels, something that had quite surprised her. Back on Earth, she had never been in a fight, and the last time she had fired a gun had been hunting with her dad as a teen. She supposed it was like riding a bike, you never forgot. "Well, I think that searching for banned books has a bit of renegade in it anyway. So you can still get some credit for that. Did you work out all the time and get ripped?"

The question was met with a snort of laughter from Max. Vivian was starting to look forward to these moments, where his typically composed demeanour cracked, in the days since they had met, she had been able to accomplish poking holes in his carefully curated self more and more. "If you need to know you can save that for your next question Viv, but it's my turn now…" Somehow, without even thinking about it, the nickname rolled pleasantly off his tongue, he paused for a moment, but after no protest from the captain, he decided he should press on with his next question. At this point, they had been 'civilized drinking' for longer than usual, his head was swimming with pleasant sort of feeling, to which he was certain present company also contributed to. Perhaps that was why, without really thinking about it, he asked, "You're about of an age with myself, did you ever marry back in your former life?" A simple question, but the weight of it filled the room. He shifted in his seat, but kept his composure.

Vivian didn’t seem to notice his brief wavering, or perhaps she wasn’t as surprised at the question as Max thought she would be. Maybe he was overthinking it. Still, the moment of silence before she finally answered felt like an eternity.

“Nah, I never did,” she finally replied nonchalantly. Max was able to finally exhale and relax a bit, he leaned on an elbow and listened as she went on. “I worked too much, never really made time. Maybe just never met the right person.” Vivian shrugged, even with the personal question, she still remained in good spirits. “But now I guess I have a whole new solar system worth of new people who could be the one.” Vivian lifted her glass to her lips, drinking the last remaining sip. Her eyes wandered to where the bottle sat, still around half full, where they lingered for a moment before she decided she had probably had enough for the night. 

Max was still nursing a few sips in his glass, watching her as she finished hers. “Do you believe in ‘the one’?” he asked casually, his panic at his previous question receding thanks to her casual response.

Vivian smiled, “Wasn’t it question for question?” she said slyly, “It’s my turn to ask you something.” Max grumbled a bit in his seat, but nodded before drinking the last of his drink. Vivian pursed her lips, thinking about what to ask. There certainly a few things that were running through her head. This more extended drinking session had left her slightly tipsy, even if she wasn’t showing it. “What are you gonna do after you find your translator?” She was nervous asking, it was something she had been wondering ever since Max mentioned the errand he wanted them to do on the Groundbreaker. Another simple question, but this time both of them felt the weight of the question filling up the room.

Max placed his now empty glass on the table, leaning back on his seat and crossing his arms while he took a moment to think. “That I’m uncertain of,” he finally said, breaking the heavy silence. “My entire time in Edgewater I thought about what would happen when I got my hands on that book. I knew when I found it I would read it cover to cover, but beyond that, I wasn’t sure.” To admit this felt strange, his goal had been so singular for so long that it wasn’t until he had the Bakonu in his hands that he ever thought beyond it. It felt foolish, and he was loathe to reveal any moments of foolishness.

Vivian frowned a bit, watching as his posture slumped slightly. Max leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and bowing his head a bit, sighing. Vivan spoke up softly, “Hey, listen, you still have plenty of time to figure it out. The Grand Architect has a plan for everyone, right?” Without hesitation, she reached across the table, placing her hand on his and squeezing slightly.

Max looked up at the feel of her touch, flushing slightly. He cleared his throat, starting to pull his hand away before thinking better of it. “Thank you Vivian. You’re right, and it was a moment of weakness to doubt the plan.” He slowly began to brighten up after his soured mood, squeezing her hand back slightly. They sat there in silence for a few moments, another comfortable silence that they seemed to be racking up. 

During their conversations, it had become clear that Vivian didn’t put that much stock in Scientism or the plan, but Max took the fact that she spoke kindly and respected his beliefs to heart. Even though there were things that they had disagreed on during their talks, Vivian always made a conscious choice to be respectful. Even though Max could have a dismissive attitude, Vivian could also see he had a good heart deep down. They had reached a happy rapport with each other, despite coming from such vastly different walks of life.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Max stood. “It seems like civilized drinking hours have come to an end," he said, picking up the glasses up from the table and making his way to the sink. Vivian nodded and stood up as well, stretching slightly before following behind him. While he began rinsing the glasses she took a place next to him, leaning against the counter.

“Another civilized drinking session comes to a close, probably for the best, we should be landing at Groundbreaker in a few hours, I should get some Z’s in.” Vivian yawned slightly to punctuate the statement. 

Max turned the sink off, his task completed, and turned to face Vivian. “A prudent plan, and don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging.” Vivian raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything he continued, “I did get ripped in prison” he said, managing to keep his tone and expression flat.


	3. No way to know which

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Despite how well they had been getting along, Vivian had taken note of how Max’s temperament could take a harsh turn. On a few occasions his temper had flared up on the Unreliable, fortunately not directed towards her or Parvati, but this coupled with the fact that the heat seemed to be making him irritable as well meant that the mood in the corridor was starting to put Vivian on edge a bit. She was loathe to see that temper act up right now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey, time for the conflict! vivian can't catch a freaking break

“Impounded???” Vivian’s voice rang out in the docking bay of the Groundbreaker, “But I've never even been here before! How did my ship get impounded?” Her eyes were wide with disbelief as the woman before her explained that her ship had been impounded by the Board. Parvati and Max watched nervously as the captain exchanged words with the mardet, though both remained silent on the matter. 

At the mention of the Board, Vivian’s confusion started to become full fledged panic. The mardet’s frustration was starting to become apparent, the expression on her face terse. “Ma’am, I’m sorry but I can’t help you, you’ll have to take this up with the Board’s representative aboard the Groundbreaker, Udom Bedford.” Upon dispensing the instructions, she abruptly left.

Vivian ran her hands through her hair, “Udom Bedford…. Udom Bedford…” she murmured to herself. Where had she heard that name? “Udom Bedford…” she repeated again, probably seeming a bit mad, before she was able to finally recall why she knew that name. “There were messages from him to Alex Hawthorne on the terminal. They were friends, or something… it was hard to tell. He thinks I'm Alex.” 

As if reading her thoughts, Parvati smiled and said, “Well there you go captain, it's probably just a misunderstanding, not like you're on the Board's radar or anything!" She had a cheery tone in her voice, but Vivian's worries weren't put fully at ease. In the interest of honesty, Vivian had a conversation with the mechanic about how she had come to Halcyon. To her credit, Parvati had been surprised but accepting. After leaving Edgewater she had thrown herself into her work aboard the ship, much to the benefit of the Unreliable, but Vivian had made sure she made some time to confront her feelings about her old town. Parvati was nervous about talking about 'feelings stuff' as she had called it, but she was able to open up after some prodding by the captain, and bribery with some sweets shared between them. Parvati had been sad, even with all her complicated feelings about the town. She admitted at at first she had been angry with Vivian's decision, but In hindsight, she was able to see why the captain had made the decisions she had. After being able to think back on how Edge water had floundered, she was left with a fierce determination to help those who needed helping. 

Max followed behind Parvati, glancing at Vivian as he passed by her. “I suppose we can just add that to our list of errands...” he said dryly. It hadn’t been that long since their question asking conversation, but Vivian couldn’t help but notice how aloof Max had been since then. He hadn’t said a word to her all morning until now, and seemed to be in a bad mood. She wondered if perhaps she had pried too deep with her questions, but she would have to figure that out another time. 

The group made their way towards customs, getting sidetracked briefly by a conversation with a young man, Felix Millstone, who had evidently smacked his boss with a tossball stick. It was right up Vivian’s alley to be chatty with each stranger she met. Max seemed impatient, but stayed quiet. As they left him, Parvati grinned, “He seemed nice captain. Bit of a troublemaker, but nice.” Vivian couldn’t help but agree.

Parvati’s cheerful mood would soon be sorely missed. Vivian's chatty nature and desire to get as much information as possible meant that first there was a long conversation with customs, then there was a long conversation with the security office, which only meant that more little errands and tasks were added on to the group's to do list. Then there was her fretting over the moon man after a long conversation with him. All of this, coupled with the heat, started to make for a cranky crew. A few sarcastic comments here and there by Max didn't help Vivian's mood. Groundbreaker was testing her patience. It was wholly preferable to Edgewater, but it was testing her patience. 

“With Dr. Welles’ Holographic Shroud we could be in and out quickly with the data…” Max said, crossing his arms. They had ducked down a corridor, away from prying eyes, to decide on a course of action for their steadily growing pile of errands. Parvati shook her head, leaning against the wall. After walking around the Groundbreaker for long enough Vivian was starting to get jealous of the fact that Parvati didn’t have sleeves. It hadn’t been long before she took off her jacket, tying the arms around her waist. Max had even taken off his quilted frock, stowing it in his bag and sporting his undershirt and slacks.

“I already said no, there’s no way in hell I’m gonna risk getting on the bad side of the Groundbreaker, especially while the ship’s still impounded.” Vivian’s fuse was fairly short, she was sweaty and presented with too many avenues to move forward. She was starting to get that overwhelmed feeling that she had back in Edgewater, and it was making her prickly.

“Yeah we’re not gonna get anything else done here if we get arrested first Vicar.” Parvati added, her tone calmer than Vivian’s had been. Thank god for Parvati, Viv and Max had been bickering for a few moments, and the mechanic had remained calm throughout.

Max crossed his arms, eyeing both of the women in turn. Now that they were aboard the Groundbreaker, he was eager to get what he wanted and get out of this heat. When Vivian asked about his plans after finding his translator, Max had gotten to thinking about the book, his plan, and The Plan. Spending a few days on the Unreliable had been a pleasant diversion, but he couldn’t help but feel that he was shirking his duties. He was enjoying himself immensely, which brought old familiar feelings of guilt for not working hard enough or doing the wrong thing. His desire to pursue his goal and ignore the rest was selfish, he knew, but at this moment it was his way to reconcile his lapse in dedication.

Despite how well they had been getting along, Vivian had taken note of how Max’s temperament could take a harsh turn. On a few occasions his temper had flared up on the Unreliable, fortunately not directed towards her or Parvati, but this coupled with the fact that the heat seemed to be making him irritable as well meant that the mood in the corridor was starting to put Vivian on edge a bit. She was loathe to see that temper act up right now. “Very well then..” Max finally relented after a moment of terse silence, “We should prioritize getting the ship returned to us.” 

Vivian breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s get a move on then, we can stop by Udom Bedford first and then go from there.” Without waiting for confirmation, she began to make her way back to Groundbreaker’s main drag. The faster she could start knocking out the errand list, the faster the crew’s morale would hopefully improve.

Max followed, keeping pace with her as they began to walk. “Architect take this heat…” he murmured under his breath. Vivian’s eyes wandered to where he walked beside her. She was sweaty as hell, she was sure they all were, but even so she couldn’t help but let her eyes wander over the Vicar’s torso. His thin undershirt clung to his body in places, and she couldn’t help but recall what he said about his time in prison. It seemed that the years since had softened him slightly, but she could still see some muscle on him, most notably in his arms. “Something on your mind?” Max asked, snapping Vivian out of her train of thought. She really hoped he hadn’t noticed her gaze.

“Same as you..” she replied coolly, “getting real sick of this heat. I can feel the sweat trickling down my back.” This elicited a chuckle from the Vicar, for which Vivian was grateful for. Anything that kept the crew in high enough spirits to not snap was a godsend. “Let’s just get this over with. I am not excited to officially meet the board’s representative ...”

Despite her misgivings, Udom Bedford had been quite easy to deal with. Thanks to the employ of a few well placed lies and half truths, the board’s representative didn’t delve further into their business and removed the Unreliable from being impounded. She could only hope that her other tasks went as smoothly.

Thus began the long line of errands. Stopping by the medbay, which just added to the list. Stopping to talk to Gladys Kilcully, adding more to the list. And the last stop, engineering. Captain Tennyson was welcoming and pleasant enough, despite all the issues going on aboard her ship. Vivian volunteered them to help out with the problem, which also would help to get on her good side, opening the door for more for them on the Groundbreaker. Seeing Parvati interact with Junlei was a treat, and almost made Vivian forget about her own poor mood. She made a mental note to circle back to that once things calmed down, if they ever did.

With some things crossed off the list, the road ahead converged towards the back bays. There was a bounty, a part, and a rescue to be had. They all could possibly have used a rest, but rash decisions were born in this heat, and soon enough they were face to face with Captain Gunnar MacRedd. Needless to say, things escalated rather quickly.

MacRedd was not interested in letting them look around the back bays, he was crass and a little cracked, with a macho streak to match his rooster red hair. Vivian wasn’t interested in rising to the bait of his attitude. She rolled her eyes at one of his long winded threats, trying to evaluate her best course of action. “Last chance to stand down red…” she said, drawing her rifle and hoping the threat would work.

MacRedd sneered, “Oooh, she thinks she's a tough bitch eh?” he replied, spitting, “Guess I’ll just have to get those bits off ya after-” 

The bandit was suddenly cut off as Max stepped forward, “I’ve heard enough!” he shouted, firing his shotgun. Then all hell broke loose. The fights with marauders on Edgewater had been scary, but this fight against MacRedd and his goons, in such close quarters, was terrifying. The fight was frenetic, with bursts of sound everywhere, and general chaos and panic. At one point Vivian heard Parvati shout, and turned to face her, only to be knocked upside the head by a goon with a tossball stick, falling to the ground. 

The next few moments were a blur. Vivian kicked at the man that had brought her down. She heard Parvati shout her name. The man who had gotten to her suddenly staggered back, collapsing in a heap, and another figure loomed over her. She started to grab for her rifle, just out of reach, before noticing it was Max. In his current state she hadn’t recognized him at first, his eyes were wild, his hair dishevelled, his chest was slick with something, she couldn’t tell if it was blood or just sweat. Over the noise of the gunfight, she heard him shout, “May the Law have mercy on you, I won’t!” His voice had a boom to it, rivalling the boom of his shotgun blasting one of the goons. In an instant he left her line of vision, back into the fray. As she started to come to her feet, the room quieted, the fight was over as suddenly as it had begun.

Parvati made it to Vivian first, offering out a hand to help her up, which she gladly accepted. “Captain, are you alright?” she asked, concern showing in her voice. As Vivian made it to her feet, she was pleased to see that despite the shouting, Parvati seemed unharmed.

“Yeah, just got a little bonked…” Vivian said dismissively, waving the mechanic away. She leaned forward trying to catch her breath, taking in the aftermath of the gunfight. A few containers had been knocked over, bodies lay on the floor, and one of the walls now featured a dramatic blood splatter. Vivian felt her stomach churn, fighting seemed to be the lot in life her in Halcyon, but she was going to have a hell of a time getting used to it.

It was only an instant until Max made his way back over to where they stood. He was breathing heavily, and before he even got close she could see that his shirt was slick with blood at the shoulder. “Vivian are you-” his eyes still had that look of frenzy in them, the one she didn't recognize. Her trepidation must have shown on her face, because Max paused as he looked at her, giving her a chance to interject.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” she said quickly, “Just a bit of a bump on the head. I’ll probably have a headache but I’ve had worse…” she trailed off a bit, finding herself staring at him. Her reaction time felt slowed, her head was throbbing, but also moving at a million miles per hour. She reached out towards his shoulder, but then recoiled, remembering the frenzy in his eyes and the rage in his voice. 

“Vivian are you sure you’re alright?” Max asked, his expression starting to soften. At this point he had caught his breath, the sound of breathing, both his and hers filled up the silence between them. 

“I’ll go look for those parts, looks like you two got a bit more rattled than me, take a breather ok?” Parvati said, squirming slightly as she watched them. Without waiting for confirmation she walked away deeper into the room, like deer fleeing from two wolves that were having a moment.

Max and Vivian stood in silence for another moment, Max shifted to cross his arms, wincing slightly as he moved his right shoulder, and then returning his arms to his sides. “That was stupid…” Vivian said, her voice sounding distant, “we should have taken more time to prepare. No armor, I don’t even know how much meds I have on me…” she trailed off. “Your shoulder…” she reached towards him again, this time managing to touch him lightly on the arm. Her head was swimming, she had written it off as just fatigue, but she was starting to think that maybe her little bump on the head was worse than she thought.

“I’m quite alright, it’s just a graze,” Max insisted. He sighed deeply, slowly returning to being calm after the rush from fighting. Perhaps he had been a tad impatient and overzealous, with all his pent up frustrations he had returned to his habit of venting in a violent way. It had been a long time since he had been able to do so. He hasn't tried to break the habit, but living in Edgewater had meant that he didn't have that outlet. Old habits die hard. “You’re right, and my haste didn’t help the situation at all,” he said flatly, remorse in his voice. He sighed, his body felt heavy, maybe due to fatigue, but he couldn't help but attribute it to the guilt he was feeling. He sat down on a nearby crate, leaving enough room for Vivian to sit next to him. She didn’t make any motions to move closer or reply, simply pacing back and forth for a moment. He sat there in silence, feeling like a punished child, trying to figure out what to say.

“I think you frightened the living daylights out of me.” Vivian’s voice sounded tired. She stopped her pacing, but didn’t face him. “I’ve never seen you like that. That temper of yours Max…” she shook her head, trailing off again not knowing what else to say. There was another brief silence, before she finally turned to face him, “We’re lucky none of us got seriously hurt.” Her voice was calm, there was no anger, only sadness and worry. As she looked at him, he could see it in her eyes as well. That same tired look that had pulled on his heartstrings before, and this time he was the one that had caused it. Max said nothing, watching as Vivian began to look through her bag. After a moment she found what she had been looking for and made her way over to him, busying herself with cleaning his shoulder where a bullet had grazed him.

He leaned over slightly to allow her to work, grateful but nervous with what was going to happen next. There was nothing tender in her touch, which even with all his his guilt, had crossed his mind once or twice since he had met her. He would give anything for that touch to be like it had been only the night before, when she had reassured him. Maybe he didn't deserve that touch. “I apologize for my actions.” Max said finally, wincing as she swabbed the wound on his shoulder. “My anger has always been a part of me,” he said, by way of explanation, “Whenever I use it as a tool it's either an asset or a detriment but there's no way to know which until it’s over. I didn’t mean to frighten you, please know that even with my… issues, I would never hurt you.” 

Vivian pursed her lips. She was upset right now, more upset than angry, but the anger was still there. She continued tending to his wounds, going through the motions. For now, she stayed quiet, she didn’t want to snap at him, despite what had just transpired, he sounded sincere. This whole day had tested her patience to its limit, but she didn’t want to be rash. Rash decisions didn’t seem to work out lately. She wasn’t sure what to do with Max at this point, he had been acting off all day and this was just the icing on the cake. “We can talk about it later. I’m tired, I’m sweaty, and my head hurts like a son of a bitch.” She punctuated her sentence with pulling the bandage she had wrapped around his shoulder tight, causing him to wince. 

“Alright,” he said plainly, standing up and waiting while Vivian gathered her things. “Thank you…” he added quietly, “for tending to me.” She stood, nodding tersely as a response.

“Captain? Vicar? I found the part!” Parvati’s call ended the brief silence, “Its back here!”

“You go ahead and help her,” Vivian ordered, slinging her bag back over her shoulder. “I’ll do a sweep to the right to make sure everything’s good.” She smiled briefly at Max, but it was strained, he could tell. “I think I need a moment by myself to breathe anyway.”

“Right away,” Max said quickly. He had some trepidation about Vivian going off on her own, but knew it was preferable to give her the space she requested than to irritate her further. This section of the back bays seemed small enough. “Please, don’t hesitate to give a shout if anything happens.” She nodded, and he was off.

Vivian sighed deeply, glad for a moment alone to decompress. Her head was feeling a bit worse than she had originally thought, but she wasn’t in a mood to be fretted over, especially by Max. The heat wasn’t helping either, but she wanted to take some time out, even if it caused a delay in their task. She strolled slowly through the area, rummaging around in a few containers, scraping up some bits and ammo. Vivian took her time meandering down the corridor on the right hand side of the area, stopping briefly to open up a packet of cysty-bits she had found, tossing them towards some scattering sprats.

She crouched down a bit to watch them, smiling a bit as they grabbed at the food. The sprats were excited, yet wary of her, coming close enough towards her to grab some of the food, but no farther. She had always had a soft spot for animals, getting used to a whole new set of them would be interesting for sure. Something to look forward too after the chaos that was her life calmed down. 

Max caught up with Parvati rather quickly, he wasn’t feeling particularly chatty, but she seemed to be. Maybe it was nerves, but she was full of questions. “Everything ok?” she asked, waiting for an answer for a moment before moving on, “I mean, uh physically?” She eyed the bandage on his shoulder.

“I’ve been better, but I will live through this, as I have survived other things,” Max replied, busying himself with packing up the parts that Parvati had been dismantling.

“Well that’s good. Well, not good that you got hurt, good that you’ll be ok, I mean.” She fidgeted slightly, glancing at him nervously, but quickly moving her eyes back to look at the task at hand. “Everything good… between you and the captain?” 

Max looked over at the mechanic, “We’ll see,” was his response. They worked in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again, “I apologize for my haste Miss Holcolmb,” he paused what he was doing, “Someone could have gotten hurt, on account of my impatience.” He figured he owed her an apology as well, even though she hadn't been hurt, she still had to scramble through that fight.

“Aw, its ok Vicar, figured MacRedd was itching for a dust-up anyway,” Parvati replied with a shrug, “Anyway, you did a mighty fine job of making quick work of those bandits. Hopefully it will be a while before we get into a scrap like that again.” Max nodded, grateful for at least some absolution. They continued their work.

The corridor Vivian was following led to some stairs, and into some glowing blue light. She drew her rifle, better safe than sorry after what had just happened. Creeping forward, she found herself alone, which was a relief. The room’s soft blue glow emanated from a plot of luminous mushrooms. Vivian was intrigued, and spent a few minutes going through the room’s contents. She found a datapad, and began to read through its contents as she slowly explored the room. She deserved a bit of a break after the day she was having.

It was there that Max found her, fifteen minutes later, crying about some worms. He and Parvati had finished up rather quickly, and after no sign of Vivian he figured it was probably worth her potential ire to make sure everything was alright. In the mushroom plot, Vivian had discovered some occupants, two large worms. As Max approached, he was worried to see her crying, but utterly confused as to why she was holding a large insect. 

"This worm looks like a baguette Max…." She said, between sobs. The worm wriggled a bit, and Vivian looked down at it, then looked up at Max, then put the worm back down in the tract of dirt she had found it in. Max took a step forward, cautious. "This fucking place is so weird!" He could hear the frustration in her voice.

"Ah yes, um… Bred worms.." Max said, trying his best to sound soothing. He ventured a few steps further towards her, "That's what they're called. They do look like bread." With a few more steps he had reached her, kneeling down to get on her level. He considered brushing her disheveled hair out of her face, but his better judgement warned him against it. "Vivian how are you feeling?"

Despite her earlier comments she made no protest as he approached her. "Bad. Like Edgewater bad. But with a massive headache. Mad at you. Enough frustration pent up that seeing a weird worm made me cry." She rattled each point as a list, counting up on her fingers. Max listened intently, and despite his previous misgivings he reached a hand over, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes. In her current state he was afraid she would snap at him, but he was relieved when she didn't pull away. 

"Let's get you out of here." Max said calmly, "We can send Parvati to finish up in engineering and I'll take you to the med bay. You should let someone take a look at you."

Vivian said nothing, but nodded after a moment. He was able to get her up to her feet, but before they could leave, she looked back at the patch of dirt. "We're taking the worms," she said, as if that was a normal thing for a person to say. "They don't have anyone anymore. They're all alone, like me." Maybe she wasn't thinking straight after all that had just happened, but Vivian was feeling strongly about this. They were alone, as she was alone. Perhaps it was dramatic, but she wasn't about to go into it with Max. 

Figuring that protesting would be ineffective, Max obliged. He felt silly, but if this was the way to get her to cooperate, worms it was. After a brief foray into filling a container with dirt, he reluctantly picked up his two passengers and they were on their way. 

Parvati looked at him curiously as they approached. Vivian said something about worms and Max shrugged, “She’s having a rough day” he said by way of explanation, “I think we are all having a rough day.” This was enough to make Parvati not pry, and soon enough they were back on their path, worms in tow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tfw you have a very bad day and cry over worms.


	4. If You Want To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Max and Vivian departed, the sooner that the captain was on bed rest, the better. Vivian moved somewhat sluggishly, but Max juggled keeping her on track and carrying the bin with the bred worms she had insisted on adopting. They weren’t far from the ship, but even so, no words passed between them on the way. Vivian was eager to take a load off after the day she had just had. Ideally she would be able to have some time alone to sort through her feelings, but it was starting to look like she wouldn’t be able to shake the vicar._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the fight, lets sort through these feelings while we are both injured!

"Ok, yeah she definitely has a concussion." Ellie said, looking away from Vivian and over at Max. Dr. Ellie Fenhill did not work for the Groundbreaker medbay, but she had approached them even before they had reached the desk. The crew had met her briefly before the trip to the back bays, but even so Max was getting impatient with her butting in when they had come into the medbay, seeking assistance.

"With all due respect Dr. Fenhill, we are here to see an employed doctor…" Max had tried to explain, but she had argued back and then here they were, getting a diagnosis in the waiting area. Parvati had gone ahead to help Captain Tennyson, so she was missing out on the doctor jumping in, and wasn’t able to back Max up on this occasion, so he seemed stuck with the pushy doctor.

"Listen, I may not look it, but I'm a pretty good sawbones, well schooled and everything," Ellie insisted. "Since I owe ya for your help with Jessie, and you so clearly seem to need my expertise, why don't I join up with you lot? Looks like it's a win win." She eyed the Captain and the vicar expectantly.

Max glanced over at Vivian, who had sort of a glazed over look. After a moment she was able to fully process what Ellie had said, and was able to respond. "Yeah that's probably a good idea. Thanks Ellie," she said, nodding and smiling a bit despite her apparent concussion.

Regardless of his own misgivings about the doctor, Max didn't have the energy to object. As captain, it was Vivian's call, he was just hoping she was in a good enough condition to not regret the decision. With that settled, he was eager to get Vivian back to the Unreliable, "Dr. Fenhill, I'm going to get the captain back to her ship, you can meet us there once you've taken care of whatever business you still have aboard Groundbreaker."

Ellie nodded, making a saluting gesture, "Yes sir, preacher sir," she replied, before pausing and continuing on, more serious, "She needs to be looked after, and if you’re gonna be the one to do it, make sure she gets some water, and she needs to be monitored for the next eight hours. She can sleep but if she does, check on her every few hours, just in case." Max rolled his eyes a bit at Ellie, but nodded. At least she seemed to be dispensing the correct treatment. He had seen his fair share of bumps on the head back in his tossball days, though he was mostly on the giving end, rather than the receiving end when it came to head injuries.

Max and Vivian departed, the sooner that the captain was on bed rest, the better. Vivian moved somewhat sluggishly, but Max juggled keeping her on track and carrying the bin with the bred worms she had insisted on adopting. They weren’t far from the ship, but even so, no words passed between them on the way. Vivian was eager to take a load off after the day she had just had. Ideally she would be able to have some time alone to sort through her feelings, but it was starting to look like she wouldn’t be able to shake the vicar.

As they approached the ship, someone was waiting for them. Felix Millstone, looking like he had gathered up all his worldly possessions and had been standing there in wait since their last conversation. "I'm just admiring your ship up close," he said, not at all succeeding at sounding casual.

"Thanks Felix, but if you could get to the point…" Vivian replied, kindness in her voice despite her injuries, "that would be great. I need to go pass the hell out."

"I'm not supposed to let you pass out Vivian," Max reminded her, "Doctor's orders." Vivian scowled a bit but didn't contradict him.

"Ok, just give me a sec here, I have something prepared…" Vivian gave Max a look while Felix cleared his throat. "Hi, my name is Felix Millstone, and this is why you should let me join your crew and/or bandit gang…" Vivian listened patiently as the young man before her read off some writing that he had his hand. After a very brief interview, to which Max could not believe he was listening to, Vivian was shaking the young man's hand and welcoming him aboard. Was she really basing hiring him on his statement that ‘pie was delicious’?

"So we're picking up strays now?" Max said snidely as they finally made their way aboard and towards the captain's quarters. Felix had run ahead, dragging his stuff behind him, eager to get settled in. 

"Picked you up, didn't I?" Vivian replied as they reached her quarters. She flopped down in a chair with a slight strain. She was glad to finally be still. She still felt like garbage, dirty and sticky from sweat and blood. A shower sounded very nice, but would have to wait. Now that why was seated, standing up seemed impossible.

Max wasn't quite sure how to take that response, but her tone didn't seem angry anymore, so he would take that as a step towards the positive at least. He deposited the bin he had been holding on the desk, glad to finally be rid of the bred worms. "I suppose that's fair," he said, taking a seat across from her in the other chair she had in her room.

Vivian eyed him suspiciously, "So you're really gonna monitor me huh?" She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. "Like now you're all gung ho on being buddy buddy or some shit? Done being a prick for the day?"

Max looked down at his feet, wringing his hands a bit while he tried to think of what to say. Her words stung, but he knew he deserved them. "You said we can talk about it later.." he replied sheepishly, even though his gut was telling him that she seemed to think later was now. He sighed deeply, sitting up a bit, "But yes, I am going to monitor you, as Dr. Fenhill ordered. And I'm not budging on that, even if you hate me right now."

"I don't hate you Max," she said, tired, and not really into the guilt trip game she assumed he was trying to play. "Today that just freaked me the fuck out. First you're all smiles and we are prying into each others lives, then today you're all crabby, like you were just waiting for the opportunity to hurt someone, and then…" she paused, remembering his frenzy during the fight. "Then you got it. I guess I should be thankful that you were able to wipe the floor with those assholes, but the look on your face Max… it was scary."

Max shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He kept looking down at his hands, but he could feel the Captain's eyes in him. He had been so conflicted over the last twenty-four hours, and it had gotten to him. It had been a long, long while since he had truly given into his angry nature, and while in the moment it felt satisfying, he was going to pay for it, as he always had in the past.

Vivian exhaled sharply, glad to have that off her chest, even though just resting right now would have been preferable. They were both quiet for a few minutes, Max ruminating on his guilt and Vivian on how badly her head hurt. "Listen," she said after a long silence, "I don't think either of us displayed exemplary behavior today." The tone of her voice sounded softer, the sad fatigue was still there, but the anger and hurt was starting to fade. "Can we just be OK? Are you pissed at me or something?"

"No… no, of course not." Max's words came quickly, not giving himself time to think. He was used to being composed, his words picked carefully, but to her, in this moment, he couldn't help but ramble. "I just… I suppose I just got overwhelmed with the last few days. I'm sure you can understand, with all you'be been through..." He looked up at her, leaning back in his seat and trying to figure out the right way to articulate his thoughts, but so many of them came to the surface at once. "I've had such a singular mind for years that when confronted with the future, I couldn't help but feel lost. I didn't feel in control, so I turned to my anger." They spent another moment in silence, Vivian watching him closely. "In truth, being around you has made me very happy. But that's made me nervous. Nervous I'm not doing enough, not pious enough, that I'm straying from the Plan." He was used to getting emotional in some ways, his anger, his zeal, but talking about his doubts, his flaws, was difficult. 

Vivian listened intently, watching the strain on his face as he explained himself. She could empathize with not feeling like you were doing the right thing or doing enough. "Max…" Vivian finally broke the silence, preparing to say something reassuring. But, her stomach rolled, her head throbbed, and what she said instead was, "I think I need to puke." So much for sentimentality. 

Max sat up, attentive, and made his way over to her quickly. "Let's get you to the restroom then…" He helped her up, and with his support managed to get upstairs to the bathroom quick enough, and Vivian did indeed puke. So much for sentimentality. 

"Thanks Max," she said afterwards, "Can we take a pause on that conversation? I think now that I'm here I should just go ahead and shower." She didn’t think it was possible for her to feel grosser than she had on Groundbreaker, but the vomiting had done it. Rest could wait a bit.

He nodded, "Of course. I’ll wait outside for you. Just in case." He was taking his duties monitoring her very seriously. Vivian wasn't quite sure that was necessary, but it was certainly kind, so she agreed. It would be a good start to making the day's events up to her at least.

Given a moment alone, Max’s own level of fatigue was able to set in. His shoulder had been wrapped up well, but he still had a dull ache. He could feel the dirt on his body and where dried blood had stuck his shirt to his skin. He knew that he needed some rest and care, but right now Vivian was his focus. He would be ok, as he had always been. Max leaned against the wall outside the bathroom, peering down the corridor. Occasionally he would spot Ellie or Felix as they were settling in. The Unreliable was going to be more crowded from now on. Hopefully it was for the best. 

“You in line for the restroom Vicar?” Max turned to face Parvati’s familiar voice. She had just returned from helping out Captain Tennyson, as was evident with her being even more covered in engine grease than usual.

Max smiled slightly as the mechanic approached. “The Captain is taking a shower,” he explained, “Dr. Fenhill diagnosed her with a concussion. I’m watching over her while she recovers.”

“Oh, how sweet!” Parvati replied, grinning. Even with how rough the day had been, and observing how Max and Vivian had been fighting, Max was pleased to see that she was still looking on the bright side. “I guess we hired on Ellie at the right time huh? Her and Felix both seem great, the more the merrier, right?”

Even though he was not sure he agreed, Max wanted to be polite to her, without her support and good attitude, the day might have turned out more dire than it actually had. “Right,” he replied, “More backup will be appreciated if we wind up in another fight.” Parvati departed soon after, heading off to offer help to the two new crew mates, leaving Max alone in his thoughts again.

He must have closed his eyes for a moment, because the next thing he remembered was Vivian's voice. "I hope you're not sleeping on the job Max. What if a poor frail old space captain fell in the shower?"

Max's eyes shot open when she spoke, his heart skipped a beat when he saw her. Vivian's normally disheveled hair was wet and free of tangles, her bare shoulders were freckled from too much time in the sun, her right temple was starting to bruise from her injury. Most of her was covered in a fluffy towel, but he found himself gawking for a brief moment. He cleared his throat, even with his distraction and fatigue he was able to manage a retort. "I wouldn't say you're frail. Old, yes, but not frail." 

"If I'm old, you are," she replied, a smile returning to her face for the first time since Groundbreaker. He felt his heart flutter, but along with that he felt some of that familiar guilt, and the weight of the day upon him.

"At this juncture I'd agree. I am most definitely feeling my age." Max managed a small smile as well. He knew that he was probably not out of the woods with Vivian yet, but it felt good to be able to smile with her again.

"Yeah, you look like shit Max," Vivian looked him over, sighing. She had been the one he was looking after, but he had taken quite a beating as well. "Listen, get yourself cleaned up, please. You deserve it. I assure you that I'll be okay for a few minutes until you're done. I'll rebandage your shoulder after."

Max hesitated a bit, but agreed. A shower would do wonders for his aches, even if he wound up rushing through it, which he did, not wanting to leave Vivian alone, even with her reassurances. He did his best to clean up quickly, and was soon returning to the Captain's quarters, medkit and clean shirt in tow. He had already ruined one shirt today, getting fully clothed could wait until after his shoulder had been bandaged. He had a towel draped over his shoulders, covering the most of his torso, and his shoulder where he had been injured as well. Max knocked on the door before entering, and was greeted by Vivian, who was now dressed in some simple cozy clothing.

She paused slightly as the door opened, reacting quite similarly to how Max had to her just a little while before. His hair was back to its typical neatness, she could spy a faint dusting of hair leading up from the line of his slacks at his waist, and a thin line of blood was dripping down his arm from where he had been hurt. "Oh, come on in, let's uh, get you bandaged up," her voice wavered slightly, and inside she was kicking herself for swooning over him when they still hadn't resolved things. She could always blame it on her head, but Vivian just hoped Max didn't bring it up.

It wasn't long before she had a bandage wrapped around Max's shoulder, he put on his shirt, and she could think rationally again. Well, as rationally as she could think with a concussion and the hots for a vicar. She sat down, glad to be at rest again. Her head was still hurting, but had subsided to more of a dull ache. Max sat across from her quietly, her temporary guardian.

"Sorry our conversation got sidetracked," Vivian said after taking a moment to breathe. "I want to say thank you for opening up to me. Life out here is a lot. I think we can both agree on that. But what is life if you don't pursue what makes you happy? You deserve to be happy Max."

He considered what she said for a few moments. She was an idealist, as usual. It was refreshing, but frustrating. "Life's more complicated than that Vivian. People have obligations and responsibilities. To ignore your part in The Plan is selfish and irresponsible. I joined the Order of Scientific Inquiry to help discover the truth of the equation, and that's my duty."

Vivian frowned, she respected his conviction, but resented his lack of flexibility. This whole colony seemed to twist people to its will, and even Max wasn't immune to its ways. "Being happy won't get in your way, you have to live your life. The ways here in Halcyon aren't the be all end all, and it's clear to see that the culture here seems to be grinding it's people down, including you." She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about all this wasn't helping her headache, but she wasn't ready to drop the subject.

He said nothing, taking time to think about what she was saying. He had grown up, both in his family, and within the OSI, with an emphasis on duty and productivity. Unlearning that, if he even wanted to, wouldn't happen overnight. Since meeting Vivian he had been able to look at Halcyon in a different light, but he wasn't ready to take things that far. "Halcyon is all I've known. This is the way things are around here, there's no changing that. There's no changing me." His voice had a soft sadness to it, but sounded firm.

Vivian had anticipated this response from Max. She was disheartened, but didn't blame him. Since they had first talked about it, she had been flip flopping a bit when it came to helping out Phineas Welles or just getting the hell out of this system. Seeing Max's begrudging acceptance of his lot in life made her realize she couldn't just ditch this place. She wanted to make it better for everyone, and for him. "I get a second chance here…" she said, exhaling. "Not many people get that chance. I'm gonna use it to its fullest. You should too." She smiled at him, the last few days had been a rollercoaster, and it looked like she would be staying on the ride for the time being. 

"I don't care about your flaws. I don't care that maybe we don't agree on everything. I won't try to change you. You can have your purpose and have me." When she started out the sentence, she didn't intend on taking it that far, but all of a sudden it was out there. The smiles, the personal questions, the looks. The silence in the room felt heavy.

Max had been leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, but at her statement he sat up. After the events of the day, this was the last thing he had expected, and for once he wasn't sure what to say. The thought of them had crossed his mind, but he wasn't planning on acting on it. But if she felt the same way… "Can I?" He managed to say.

"If you want to," Vivian replied, her eyes making contact with his. She bit her lip, nervous that she had read the situation wrong. She watched him, waiting for a response, her eyes showing her nerves, but also looking eager.

Seeing the look in her eyes, the guilt he had been feeling melted away. Could he truly have both? "I want to," he said, his voice wavering briefly. Then he kissed her.

Vivian didn't remember standing, but she must have. He smelled like the plain soap that had been in the Unreliable when she came into possession of the ship. She reached to place her hand on his waist, and Max leaned into her touch. The moment seemed slow, but too short. Vivian pulled way, her face flushed. "Sorry, feeling kind of dizzy," she said, her voice a whisper.

He leaned back slightly, but stayed close. After the events that had led them up to this point, he wasn't ready to be father away from her, not yet. "Of course, your head…" he said softly, sounding almost embarrassed. "Please forgive me for my… enthusiasm." He placed his hand gently on her arm, brushing her skin lightly with his thumb.

"You don't need to apologize for that," Vivian replied with a smile as she stepped back from him slightly. She made her way to her bunk, where she patted the space beside her. "Come sit with me, please," her voice was still low. 

"Of course," Max made his way over to the bunk, taking his place beside her. Vivian leaned her head against his good shoulder, saying nothing for a moment. It felt good just to be close to him, especially after how hard the day had been. She had been wanting this moment, and as they sat there, she knew he must have too.

"I've been apologizing a lot today," he said, tentatively placing his arm around her. Despite her being the one to say it first, and the fact that she had kissed him back, Max still felt like he was treading on thin ice. She didn't shy away, which reassured him. He could feel her breathing, soft and steady. "Thank you for giving me a chance. I don't know if I deserved it after my behavior today. Part of me was expecting you to kick me off your ship… but this… I didn't expect."

"I'll admit that crossed my mind," Vivian replied, "You were acting so cold, it really threw me off, I wondered if I should just tell you to go. But I couldn't, I guess I was too attached to you. I was certain you had noticed how I looked at you." She sat up, turning slightly to face him. 

"I think I was too preoccupied with worrying about if you had noticed how I looked at you, among my other worries, of course." He was quiet, thinking back about everything that had been on his mind lately. Even with this new development, he couldn't wholly discount those worries. Vivian's eternal optimism meant that she believed her logic was sound, but he had been through too much in his life to expect everything to work out perfectly. He could be making a mistake right now, but he wanted her in his arms, and in this moment it was nice to push aside the negative thoughts in his head and just be.

"Don't do anything like that again," she said, her tone turning serious once again. Vivian placed a hand gently on his knee, looking him in the eyes. "And I'm not talking about the violence thing. I can accept the anger, as long as you don't direct it towards me or anyone else on this crew. I'm talking about the keeping things pent up and not talking to me about stuff thing." He met her eyes and nodded, feeling foolish that he hadn't simply thought to talk to her about what he was feeling. "If we're in this together we can only succeed if we work together."

He squeezed her gently, "You have my promise." After all his doubts and his wavering belief, Max was feeling on solid ground again. Vivian sat back again, resulting comfortably in his arms, and he held her in the comfortable silence that followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its happening!!!! i promise these idiots will finally have a good day in the next chapter


	5. Everytime We Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Vivian and Max had both recovered in the following days. The crew, both new and old, settled into the new five person arrangement of the Unreliable, and to the fact that the Captain and the Vicar had been spending the majority of their time together._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> threat level has risen to explicit. enjoy some pure silliness followed by the sexy times

Vivian and Max both recovered in the following days. The crew, both new and old, settled into the new five person arrangement of the Unreliable, and to the fact that the Captain and the Vicar had been spending the majority of their time together. 

Ellie and Felix found their groove as crew of the Unreliable. After Vivian had a chance to recover, her situation, and her plan to work with Phineas Welles to save the Hope colonists, was explained to both of them. Both Felix and Ellie were gung ho about sticking it to the man, so that, at the very least, was easy. The crew settled into a routine, with everyone starting to get to know each other. Felix and Max bonded over tossball, though had varying opinions on which team was the best. At one point Vivian was accosted by both of them trying to explain the game to her. They still couldn’t. 

Despite Max’s doubts, Ellie was indeed a good asset to have aboard. Despite how her new favorite hobby seemed to be irritating him, Max couldn’t discount how her medical expertise had helped both him and Vivian recover quickly, and her enthusiasm when it came to what she referred to as ‘getting up to some shenanigans’ was always help when it came to the various jobs they would run. It was a fair enough trade off for her constant desire to push his buttons, which he was doing his best to take in stride, but often resulted in an argument back and forth between them.

Vivian was excited to see Parvati have some friends among her own age. Parvati and Felix had bonded over a mutual love of some specific aetherwave serial, Vivian could never remember which one, but most of the board approved shows seemed to blend together in the captain’s brain. Ellie had soon established quite a reputation as a card shark, with her reigning victorious during many of the trio's game nights. Felix didn't figure out she was cheating, but Parvati caught on quick, and made Ellie teach her some tricks. 

Vivian felt like things were looking up after her first few disastrous days in Halcyon. Her bruising from the fight with MacRedd was even starting to go away. The days were filled with working smaller jobs to earn enough bits to purchase a navkey for Monarch, and the nights were filled with spending time with the crew. She had even found the time to request a tour of the Groundbreaker security office, much to Max’s excitement. While she had asked a series of distracting questions, he was able to get the data he needed, much quicker than she would have anticipated. He really hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he was good with getting into computer systems. 

Max and Vivian spent a lot of time in bed, reading. The bunks aboard the Unreliable left something to be desired, but with the creative use of some extra furniture and some pillows and blankets, they had been able to make it so they could comfortably sit side by side as they read. They had been taking whatever was going on between them slow, both still recovering from their injuries and all. Vivian couldn't help but feel that the vicar was being a little chaste with her, especially around the rest of the crew. They hadn’t really said anything to the others about what was brewing between them, but Vivian figured that at least some of them had an inkling of what was going on. Vivian had no idea if Max’s apparent shyness was related to the religious thing or just general nerves, but especially while his shoulder was still healing, she wasn't pushing it. But, they were both recovered by now, and she couldn’t help but think about being with him.

Vivian had taken to reading all she could find about Halcyon's flora and fauna, starting with bred worms. She had found a place for her new pets on the Unreliable, dubbed Baguette and Toast, and was experimenting with feeding them waste and food scraps. The goal was to get them to make fertilizer and start growing some things. She often found herself sitting with Max in her captain's quarters, both with their nose face down in a book. Occasionally they would trade whatever they were reading, Vivian didn't say, but she found his OSI texts rather dull. Some of the heretical stuff had some merits however, texts about philosophy and the meaning of it all. With how highly he regarded these works, Vivian couldn't help but wonder sometimes if perhaps he was a Philosophist in denial.

It was a rare day with some downtime, the crew had seemingly exhausted most of the tasks aboard the Groundbreaker, and decided to the best use of the rest of the day was to head to Roseway, where hopefully some real bits could be made towards the Stellar Bay navkey. Vivian had gotten the crew in the habit of eating together when they could, ‘family style’ as she called it, and the captain had wound up on dish duty while Parvati, Ellie, and Felix had all run off to watch the new episode of Terror on Monarch.

She was the last one in the galley, washing some plates and singing a bit to herself, when a pair of familiar hands snaked their way around her middle. "What's that? Old Earth song?" Max purred, placing his head between her neck and shoulder. He had excused himself to his room after the meal, but it seemed as soon as the others had run off he made his way back. Trying to throw them off his scent maybe?

Vivian made and mmhmm noise as a response, doing her best to finish the dishes with this new disturbance. "There's not really much music here is there?" she mused, just making conversation. She hadn't really thought much about it until that day, but Halcyon had precious little in the way of tunes. Whenever she had asked ADA to play some music, it was always that same annoying Spacer’s Choice jingle. She kinda hated it at this point.

"The board controls all media," Max replied after taking a moment to think. Satisfied with surprising her, he stepped back and made his way to stand next to her, leaning back on the counter and watching as she continued washing the dishes. "Which means that all the music in Halcyon is either jingles or underscoring from serials. A bunch of drivel really. If I never had to hear that law-forsaken Spacer’s Choice song again, I’d be happy."

"God same…..” she replied. Max always was caught a bit off guard by her interjecting that into her speech rather than the ‘law’ or ‘void’ he was used to. He wouldn’t go as far as to call it blasphemy, but it certainly was an interesting Earth relic. “Scientism doesn't have hymns or anything?" Vivian asked, finishing up the last of the dishes and reaching for a towel, which Max passed to her.

Max shook his head, "No, the OSI would consider anything like that a frivolity, services are kept simple, to give vicars more time to do their work." He watched as Vivian dried her hands, the last few days had been peaceful, and he was also able to be at least somewhat productive, so for now Max could be content. Heading to Monarch was on his mind, but for now he was comfortable with putting it off, seeing as he was expecting some trouble when it came to confronting Cheney.

Even after their frank conversation, Max hadn't been able to tell her that he was actually in pursuit of the man who had told him about the book, not a translator. He had hit a roadblock after finding out the book was in French, and this was the only avenue ahead he could think of, getting his revenge. It probably wouldn’t yield any results in actually being able to study the book, but at this point he couldn’t see a way to translate it anyway, it was hopeless. Mayhaps this course of action would prove to be a mistake, but that would be a problem for future Max to deal with.

"Anyway, yes, to answer your question, there's a serious lack of music in this colony." Max said, "But as it happens, when your hobby is searching out banned books, you sometimes find some other banned things." He smiled at her with that classic smug smile of his. Over the years he had accumulated various interesting odds and ends, it had been a while since he’d gone through the collection, but he could still recall every object in it. Like a magpie to something shiny, Max liked to collect forbidden bits and bobs.

Vivian's eyes lit up. The differences between earth and Halcyon were vast, but it was the smaller things that she wound up missing the most. "You know, I'm starting to think that maybe you should have had a career as a smuggler or something," she teased, "with that skill set you could do well for yourself. Lilya would hire you in a heartbeat."

"I'm quite satisfied with my place in life captain," he replied, lightheartedly. "Now if you're finished calling me a rogue, shall I go fetch what I have?" Vivian nodded and they departed briefly. It took a few minutes for Max to find the small box of data cartridges among his things. He paused briefly to thumb through his little collection of oddities, he wasn't sure what drew him to the banned and secret, maybe Vivian was right and he would have been well used in a seedier career. Maybe in another life, but in this one he had an appointment in the captain’s quarters.

"I've only listened to them a little bit," Max said as he placed the box upon her desk next to the terminal, "and that was when I first procured them. I honestly don't remember what was on any of them, and the labeling leaves something to be desired." 

Vivian was already rummaging through the box. There were eight cartridges in all, each with an unreadable scrawl along the side. "How about we start with this one?" She plucked one out of the box at random, placing it in Max's palm. "Maybe it will be romantic." Now that they were in the privacy of her cabin, she was feeling bolder.

He accepted the cartridge, "Maybe it will, there’s only one way to tell,” Max replied, smiling at her briefly before busying himself at the terminal. He slid the cartridge into the terminal's port, hitting a few keys on the keyboard before the song started playing. It had a slow tempo, and he smiled. "Maybe this one will qualify?" He stood up straight, facing her as the song played.

It took Vivian a moment to register what she was hearing, and when she did, she began to laugh. Max looked at her quizzically before she said, "Oh my god,” she said, surprised and all smiles, “I actually know this one, wait for it…." 

He watched her curiously as she nodded along with the song, "I don't see what's so funny…" he said, but then his wait was over as the dance beat dropped.

"Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling, and every time we kiss I swear I could fly…" Vivian sung along with the song between bouts of laughter. Max stood there dumbfounded as the upbeat song played, searching Vivian’s face for answers. "It's like a dance song… on earth a lot of people thought it was silly and cheesy," she explained, hardly containing her grin. Max couldn't help but laugh along with her, now that he was in on the joke. He had seen her laugh before, but her sheer exuberance blew him away, and he found himself unable to wipe the smile off his face as he listened to her. “I dunno, its kinda goofy I guess! Let’s see what else there is though…” Vivian reached for the box, flipping through the cartridges for a moment as the beat of the song played frantically around them.

Max leaned forward and pressed a few buttons on the terminal, ejecting the cartridge. "There is some poetry to it I suppose…" he said, thinking about the words rather than the cheesy dance beat. He reached his hand out to her, accepting the next cartridge she had picked out. “Though perhaps we will find ourselves something slightly less, goofy, as you say.”

Vivian rocked on her heels a bit as she watched him at the computer. It hadn’t even crossed her brain that any of these cartridges could contain any music she recognized. She wondered what the odds were that it survived this long and came this far. As ridiculous as Cascada’s version of Everytime We Touch was, familiarity in this strange land was something that genuinely excited her. She would have to revisit it later when she was more in a mood to dance ridiculously, but for now she was in a completely different mood. As he busied himself with preparing the next cartridge, Vivian snaked her arms around him from behind as he had done just a few minutes before. 

He smiled, hitting one last key on the terminal and turning around to face her. Max smiled softly as she placed her head against his chest. They had caught a few tender moments like this in the last few days, usually quick, here and there, and they quickly ended when someone else was around. Longer moments were usually reserved for their reading time, a head on the shoulder or arms intertwined. Max hadn’t stayed the night, and not for lack of desire. Things were still new, they had been recovering, there were a few different reasons. Max wouldn’t admit it, but he was all nerves under his cool and collected exterior. Happiness had been nagging at him again as much as he had been trying to push his doubts away. 

The music from the new cartridge began to play, this time a tune that Vivian didn’t recognize. It was soft piano music, definitely a different pace from the last selection. There was something about it that seemed unpolished, like someone in Halcyon had recorded themselves practicing piano for personal use to listen back to later, but even so the music was beautiful. He followed her lead, wrapping his hands around her, resting them in the small of her back. The smell of her, and the warmth of her skin made her forget about his doubts for a while. They started to sway a bit, an unconventional slow dance along to the mysterious song. Max leaned forward slightly to gently kiss the top of her head. After a few minutes, Vivian stood up straight, smiling as she made eye contact with him. “Your shoulder still hurting?” she asked softly, reaching her hand up to lightly touch where his wound had been. She was asking a few things all wrapped up in one question, and the look on her face spelled it out for him.

“No, it’s feeling quite alright,” he replied with a smile, “The person who took care of me did a good job. A beauty too, if I recall.” He reached for her hand, gripping it softly and assuming a more traditional slow dancing stance. If asking about his shoulder was her way of flirting, he was going to respond in kind.

Vivian went along with his motions, letting him lead her as they slowly began to dance. “She sounds nice,” she replied coyly, “You should run away with her.” It felt so nice to be able to have a moment like this, after all she had gone through in the last week. She was tickled pink by his compliments, and was eager to hear more. She had no qualms fishing for some.

“Maybe I will,” he replied, “but first she has this big plan to save the world I hear. She’s very noble you see.” Max swayed in time with the music, leading her in a slow dance, enjoying this moment with her.

“I hear she also really likes flattery,” Vivian teased, squeezing his side gently. The music was still playing, neither of them knew how long it would play, but it was nice to enjoy it while it lasted. She leaned into him, kissing him deeply. Vivian had enough talk, she was ready for some action. Her hand strayed towards his backside, giving it a squeeze. Max took the hint, leaning into the kiss as well. She had taken the initiative, but he was planning on taking the lead, as he had with their dance. He deepened the kiss, running his tongue between her lips, reaching for hers. Just like before, she followed his lead, parting her lips and kissing him back. His hands moved to her hips, snaking their way under her shirt, fluttering gently over her soft skin.

Vivian pulled away briefly, breathing deep, her face flushed. “Max….” she whispered, trailing off slightly. He smiled, hearing his name on her lips just encouraged him more, he slowly began making his way up her torso, brushing his hands against her breasts, between her shirt and her bra. “Just take it off already…” she teased, her voice still low. He obliged, reaching down for the hem of her shirt and drawing it up. Vivian lifted her arms slightly, and soon her shirt was on the floor. His eyes widened slightly as he took in her body, she laughed slightly at his reaction, this was only the start after all.

Vivian reached for his shirt and slowly began to pull it up, Max quickly assisted, and his shirt went the way of hers. This time it was her turn to take him in, she ran a hand across his chest, brushing through the dusting of hair, she reached over to trace the new scar along his shoulder, a memento from the ups and downs of their time together thus far. As she had previously observed, years had softened his physique, but he was still fairly well toned. She buried her face in his chest again, taking in his scent. After a moment she pulled back slightly, reaching behind her to unhook her bra. She shrugged it off, looking up at Max as he took in the sight of her once more. “You’re beautiful you know…” he said softly.

“Flattery will get you everywhere vicar,” she replied, leaning forward to plant a kiss on his neck. She felt him shiver at her kiss and the skin to skin contact between them. He leaned his head against hers, his breathing in her ear, starting to get heavy as she continued kissing his neck and shoulder. The closeness and the kisses were certainly affecting him, Vivian could feel him stiffen below the waist, which made her smile. Feeling frisky, she continued her kisses, reaching down slightly as she did to brush her hand over the front of his trousers, feeling him respond as she did so.

There he was, getting himself carried away with her caresses, lost and letting her have her way with him. He let out a soft moan as she ran her hands across his rising erection. This seemed to just encourage her more, the kisses becoming more rapid. He reached a hand up to her breast, brushing a thumb over her nipple, which stiffened in reaction. Vivian made a slight ‘mmm’ sound in response, giving Max his opportunity to draw his other hand to her chin, guiding her face back up towards his. He kissed her, leaning back slightly, using his other hand to balance her as she dipped back slightly, taking back the lead in this ‘dance’.

After a moment he pulled away and their eyes met, Max could see the desire in her eyes, which only fueled his own. The urgency between them was palpable, both reached towards the other’s waistband at the same time, causing them both to laugh. “Eager are we…?” he teased, smiling at her. Something in his tone of voice made her shiver, that calm, measured tone of a figure of authority. It riled her up.

“Do you blame me…?” Was her response, she gave him a sly grin, “And it’s not like I’m the only one, you seem to be quite eager as well....” Her hand reached to touch the bulge that had been forming in his pants. “Don’t you?” she punctuated her sentence by giving him a small squeeze. Despite his previous collected demeanor, he flushed, making a short groaning sound and leaning into her touch.

“Eager is an understatement…” he replied, breathy, “My body is aching for you, every fiber of my being is yearning for you…” Now Vivian was the one blushing, why did he have to be so poetic? Not that she was going to complain about that. He reached up, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her. Max pulled away quicker than she expected, and began to lead her towards the bunk. Vivian followed his lead, tugging at her pants and kicking them off on the way over. By the time they reached the bunk, they were both down to their skivvies, and quite quickly those were shed as well. 

They stood in silence for a moment, eyes roving over each other’s body. Max was the first to make a move, guiding her to lay down, Vivian once again followed his lead, letting him straddle her. Looking up at him she felt even more eager, but she couldn’t help but tease, “Missionary position, from the vicar? Who would have guessed?” She laughed for a moment, but soon emitted a gasp as Max’s hand made its way down between her legs. He was indeed eager, but he was also eager to please. Despite what some might assume, Max had been around the block a few times. He placed his thumb gently on her clit, massaging it slowly at first. She cried out, which was the response he was looking for. He watched the reaction on her face with that smug grin on her face that she both loved and hated, enjoying himself immensely.

Vivian moaned as he continued to rub her, following that up with placing one finger inside her, and then another. “Max…….. Fuck…..” Vivian moaned, reaching down to grip his shoulder. Her grip was tight as she writhed underneath him, her breathing was heavy and she continued to moan. Max watched her carefully, watching her in this state only heightened his own arousal. 

“Are you eager for me?” he leaned towards her, whispering close to her ear. He felt her shaking beneath him, her body flushed and ready.

“Jesus, fuck, yes…” she managed to say, between her moans. Max considered keeping her squirming for another moment, but he was getting to the point where he was too eager to wait as well. He brought his face close to hers, kissing her while he slid himself into her. A loud noise escaped her, blending with a groaning sound from him.

“You know, in Halcyon its customary to use ‘law’ as an expletive,” he said, maintaining his composure for just a moment. He knew that shortly he would devolve into hoots and hollers, but getting one last comment was too tempting.

Vivian’s face was contorted in her pleasure, but she let out a snort at that, “Shut up, just fuck me darling….” she retorted, and for once Max was too wrapped up in her body to try and get in the last word. Evidently there was something in that statement that Max enjoyed, he followed her orders immediately, thrusting into her. She giggled a bit more but soon that was replaced by a steady low moan as Max found a rhythm and she rocked along with it. Her hands searched for something to cling to and she found the vicar's shoulders, gripping them tight. 

Somewhere in the next few minutes the music ended, though neither took note, focusing instead on one another. She gripped his shoulders tightly, not pausing to think that she might leave a bruise, the only thing she could think about was him, and the wonderful feeling coursing throughout her body as he had her way with her. He was certainly hitting all the right spots. She felt herself getting closer, and as she neared her climax she whispered his name again between her moans, her volume increasing as she reached it and she could feel it reverberate through her body.

Max had been fighting off his own climax. Even though he was sure there would be no hurt feelings from a premature end, he wanted to impress. As he thrusted inside her, one hand roamed, feeling her chest and reaching up to stroke her hair. As he came close it retreated, gripping her hips for steadiness. Besides his one comment, he hadn't been much for talk since, staying focused, and indeed devolving into hoots and hollers as he had figured. His groans and grunts were mostly low, drowned out by Vivian's cries, but as he reached his climax he cried out as well, her name on his lips.

After, they lay in silence for a moment, Max on top of her, both trying to catch their breath. Max shifted slightly, pulling out and moving slightly to the side, Vivian wordlessly moved over slightly and he rested his head on her shoulder. There was only just enough room for them on the bunk like this, as close as this. She smiled, running her fingers along his back slightly as he lay in the crook of her arm. “I could get used to that,” he said, finally starting to catch his breath, “You calling me darling…”

Vivian smiled at him, “Feeling extra sappy post coitus?” she replied, bringing her hand up and brushing it through his hair. “I could get used to that.”

“Alright I’m making a note, the captain Vivian A. Hawthorne is a hopeless romantic, be more sappy.” He sat up on his elbow slightly, watching as she smiled at him, he couldn't help but smile back, his typical smug smile replaced with a softer one.

They lay in comfortable silence, both glad for the opportunity to not have to think about anything else for a spell. Vivian kept her mind off the unknown of Roseway, focusing on her lover's skin and the closeness between them instead of the potential of danger and more fights she wasn't sure she could handle. Max kept his mind on her breathing and the warmth of her body, rather than the inevitable moment when she would learn he was after revenge instead of a translator. They were used to having some things unsaid, though in this instance the weight of that which was unsaid might be dangerous.

"The thought just crossed my mind…" Vivian began softly, "I think that this room is the most inconvenient place to get to the bathroom from on this entire ship."

"I believe you're right," he responded, he hadn't thought about the practicalities of cleaning themselves up yet, he hadn't really thought of anything beyond just laying there in that moment with her. He couldn't help but marvel at that, after years of meditation and contemplation, it was this moment that he felt the peacefulness of a still mind. 

"You're quiet, should I be worried?" Vivian said, snapping him out of his own head. She sat up slightly, and they both adjusted to more comfortable slightly upright positions. She watched him, smiling gently and running her hand through the hair on his chest.

"No, I'm just dwelling in this moment." Max replied, reaching his hand up to grasp hers. She rotated her hand to intertwine her fingers with his. "It's not often I'm speechless Vivian." He was used to always having something to say, to being the commanding voice in a room of worshippers, but he was becoming increasingly aware that there were some places that didn't need to be filled with sermons or lectures, or the witty banter he prided himself on. She kissed him lightly on the shoulder, and he smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just couldnt get the thought of them finding some earth music but its like silly earth music..... it was time for them to have a nice day for once.


	6. The Choices We All Have To Make

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"This is insane," she whispered to Max over the table they had found in the corner of the Seventeenth Bar, waiting to meet up with the rest of the crew. They had split up when they came into town, promising to meet back up here. "No scientist worth his salt would even consider doing something this wildly unethical. Secret off the books experiments? Working with unstable weapons, and all just to make some bits?" She took a drink from her Zero Gee, shaking her head. Vivian was doing her best to keep her voice down, it was already clear that even though Roseway seemed glad for the help, they weren't too keen on outsiders, especially ones that asked as many questions as she had. Max was impressed with her ability to get the corporate scientists to cough up their secrets, but was hoping that it wouldn't cost them._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok this one wound up more tense than i originally intended but still is at about 7/10 on the let vivian have a good day meter, so at least there's that

Roseway was beautiful on the outside, but there was ugliness just under the surface. Vivian was both fascinated and terrified by the first Raptidon they came across, once again being useless in combat as she gawked at it. Then Felix drop kicked it, and the moment was over. "That kid is crazy…" Max remarked to her once they had the thing down. Felix was showboating, but even Max smiled a bit at his enthusiasm. "Crazy but effective, I suppose." He was keeping an appropriate distance while they were out and about, they hadn't had a discussion about whether or not they should say something to the crew yet about their budding relationship.

Even with his professional outwards demeanor, Vivian could see the looks he gave her and feel the energy in the small liberties he would take. He thought he was sly, with his lingering touches, or sneaking kisses when he thought no one was paying attention. Not that she was complaining, the hopeless romantic that he had correctly pegged her as was thrilled for the attention. "We're not taking a rapt home," Max added as they walked side by side behind the others. His tone was light, but there was also some firmness behind it, just in case. 

"Not even a small one?" Vivian replied, feigning upset. He scowled a bit at her, but soon they were both smiling as she gave up the act. Truth be told, Vivian thought it would certainly be very interesting to study these scary creatures, in a safe environment of course. 

That had been what the scientists of Roseway though too, but it appeared that their safe environment was no longer safe. Getting within the walls of Roseway proper had been a relief, everyone was safe and sound from the trek and Vivian was able to get down to business in town, quickly tracking down the three scientists ADA had tagged to the transmission they received from Gladys. At first, the Captain had been excited to finally be around some fellow scientists, but this group was raising red flags almost instantly.

"This is insane," she whispered to Max over the table they had found in the corner of the Seventeenth Bar, waiting to meet up with the rest of the crew. They had split up when they came into town, promising to meet back up here. "No scientist worth his salt would even consider doing something this wildly unethical. Secret off the books experiments? Working with unstable weapons, and all just to make some extra bits on the side?" She took a drink from her Zero Gee, shaking her head. Vivian was doing her best to keep her voice down, it was already clear that even though Roseway seemed glad for the help, they weren't too keen on outsiders, especially ones that asked as many questions as she had. Max was impressed with her ability to get the corporate scientists to cough up their secrets, but was hoping that it wouldn't cost them later on.

"Every citizen of Halcyon serves a common goal," Max tried to explain, "Earning bits for the HHC. That's the only way to get any notoriety here and better yourself in this society. I think that the ethical standards you might be used to back on Earth don't really apply here. Unless they just so happen to also interfere with Auntie Cleo's bottom line no one here is going to hold any progress back for the sake of some sort of moral code. Why impede progress?"

"Progress? Progress on what? Appetite suppressing toothpaste? Raptidon love potion?" Vivian drummed her fingers on the table restlessly, "It's true that genuine human progress has come at the cost of suffering but we have learned so much over time, we should be able to think critically about the progress we make and where to draw the line." Max hadn't seen her this riled up before. She had been angry with him, sure, but that was a different type of angry than this. 

Even though he lamented their differences of opinion, Max could respect how strongly she held her convictions. At their core, they were convictions he could agree with, but he regarded most of them as the stubborn convictions of someone who was optimistic, who believed in the good in people. But she didn't know Halcyon, especially not like he did. "Here, lines like that are blurred. Not everything is black or white Viv, not everyone can be as good as you wish them to be." His tone was calm and rational, he was used to being a voice of reason. 

She glowered at him slightly. Vivian knew he meant well, but she was always surprised someone as bright as Max could be so blind. "We're not talking about someone stealing bread to feed their family Max, we are talking about a wealthy company creating a product so they can intentionally feed their employees less food. Literally. We are talking about people with a ton of money deciding it's cheaper to make poor people slowly starve." 

Despite the tension, part of Max was glad for someone to have an intelligent argument with. He had gone so long with only brutes or dullards for company, Vivian was a welcome relief, even when they disagreed. "You're very cute when you're all worked up," he told her, deciding to try and brush off the issue at hand.

"Don't patronize me, you know I'm right." Despite her words, her tone softened. Max had learned to use her ego to diffuse arguments . Vivian had caught on, and kept telling herself she wasn't going to fall for it, but it still worked every time.

"Well, when you put it in terms like that, you have a point. What do you want to do here? Steal all the research and destroy it? I thought part of this plan involved selling what we found to the highest bidder, where's the ethics in that?" Perhaps he was kicking a mantiswarm nest with that question, but he knew that if he didn't challenge Vivian on things, there was no one else around who would. "I'm not going to tell you one choice is wrong and one is right. This is the choice you have to make, these are the choices we all have to make. The Plan ensures that whichever choice you make is the one that needs to be made, but doesn't ascribe any right or wrong to it. It is simply a choice, predetermined by the Grand Architect."

Vivian frowned, resting her hand on her chin. Even though he had trouble seeing things the way she wanted him to, there was no questioning that his logic was sound, minus the whole Grand Architect thing, but that was a can of worms she wasn't ready to open with him yet. "We'll figure it out, I don't know. There's usually a way to come out on top and still minimalize harm." 

"If there is, I know you'd be the one to find it." Max smiled at her, despite everything, he knew that the good in her was a force to be reckoned with. Her place in the Plan was to make big changes in Halcyon, he was sure of that. Where Vivian had a will, there was a way.

And that was proving to be true as they continued on the mission. The missing scientist Crane sent them to help had been found, easy. He was surprised that his boss had sent them for him, which in turn did not surprise Vivian in the least. The 'secret' lab was also incredibly easy to find. "Would you look at that," Ellie remarked as they made their way up the road, "Secret Lab in huge font, this must be the place."

It was indeed the place. Vivian was always quite thorough on their adventures, and soon enough she was chatting up an outlaw posted outside. If there was anything to be said about the Captain, it was that she was friendly and kind. Max worried that this could come back to bite her, but as long as he was there with her, he was confident he could protect her from any backlash. Soon enough they were sidetracked, doing a favor for this outlaw, Lillian, and Max was pleasantly surprised to see it benefit them immediately. Lillian let them in through the back door she was guarding, which led directly to the lab area. They had been informed they could meet up with some corporate types, but Vivian was glad to avoid them and not have to use the front door.

"OK, here's the plan," Vivian addressed them all in a low tone as they gathered inside, "I know Crane said he wanted these rapts alive, but I am more interested in sabotaging these experiments rather than saving them. So, it's raptidon season up in here." Felix whooped excitedly before remembering they were trying to be quiet. "Felix, you take Parvati and Ellie to wipe the things out, Max you and your hacking skills are with me, we gotta get as much of this research in our hands and/or erased completely.”

Max wasn’t going to argue with her decision, he could a fire in her eyes. He wondered if it was the same determination she had when she had chosen to doom Edgewater. He liked to believe that he influenced her decisiveness in this instance, though part of him worried that she had chosen this most disruptive path in spite of what he told her about things being predetermined with the Plan. “Are you sure about this course of action?” he asked as they separated from the rest of the group, making their way deeper into the lab.

“You’re right,” she looked over at him, “Not everyone can be as good as I want them to be, the only person’s actions I can control are my own. I’m gonna do whatever it takes to change this godforsaken place for the better. This is the start, but I’m hoping that Phineas’ plan will be able to do the heavy lifting to destroy all the board has done here..” She turned away from him, focusing instead on rummaging through some containers. “I know you say things are they way they are for a reason, but I can’t accept that it’s pointless to try to make things better for everyone.” Vivian sighed, part of her wanted to avoid conversations like this, to just enjoy what they had, but prolonging things would just make the resulting fallout worse. “I don’t want the people here to just accept their shitty lives here. Halcyon deserves better, you deserve better.”

He took a moment to think about it. His first thought that she was naive to think that one person could change Halcyon so completely, but his second thought was that if anyone could, it was probably Vivian. “By changing things so drastically, you can easily damage the lives of everyone in the entire system. Is it worth it? This is one thing you can’t do without causing harm.” He had some reservations about the big changes she wanted to make here, and was at least hoping she would be able to think it through with some guidance. He could feel the tension between them, and it made him nervous. Things had been so pleasant between them and he wasn’t ready for this drive a wedge between them, even though he should have spotted it a mile away.

“I guess I won’t know until it’s over,” she replied, slowly and deliberately. There was a worry in her voice, “I wish you could see how awful things are here like I can, but you’ve been conditioned by living here, conditioned by the whole ‘plan’ thing with the OSI. You’re so smart Max, I wish you could see things the way I do. This colony needed a fresh set of eyes to be able to understand how messed up things are here.” She finally turned back to face him, worry on her face.

Max exhaled sharply, trying to take in all that she said. He knew that she didn’t agree with his beliefs, but having it laid out so plainly was like a punch to the gut. Typically he would jump right to anger, but with this, with her, he just felt hurt. Everything about the task at hand left his mind, “You said you wouldn’t try to change me-”

“I don’t want to change you! I want to change everything about this whole place!” She had started to continue on down the hallway, but turned to face him. This was probably not the best place to be having this conversation, but there didn’t seem to be any stopping it now that it had started. You couldn’t un-pop a balloon.

“Yes, you want to fix everything, bend everything in Halcyon to your will,” he replied, his voice slightly raised. “You’re an outsider here who thinks she knows what’s best for everyone.”

“I never said that! I just want to make things better, people here are in a bad way, can’t you see that? Would your Grand Architect really have an elaborate plan that leads to this?” she was getting heated, but she was more upset than angry so far. She could feel herself starting to tear up, which only served to frustrate her further, there were things to be done here and here she was starting to cry over an argument with Max.

Seeing her tears, Max paused. He was still hurt by what she had said, but taking a step back, he was able to take a moment to think. Even if she had said it in a way that stung, Max knew that she really did want to change things for the better. “Vivian….” he trailed off a bit, trying to choose what to say next carefully. He had already allowed his temper to flare during this exchange, something he already regretted, especially when he saw the look on her face.

“Let’s just get through this,” Vivian’s voice was terse she wiped her face with her sleeve, steeling herself, “When this is done you can decide if you’re with me or not.” Max simply nodded, not sure how to respond, and they were off, getting back on track for the matter at hand. 

They continued their exploration the lab in silence, easily tracking down Vaughn Cortes’ abandoned experiment. Max got her into the terminal, and after some quick consideration, she typed a few commands into the machine. “This guy’s a hack…” she said with a derisive snort, deciding to shift the focus of her irritation on the scientists of Roseway, rather than Max, for the time being anyway. “It’s easy to see where he’s going wrong where this and I could easily improve his weird love potion, but…” she pressed a key on the terminal dramatically. “I’m gonna fuck it up instead.” The monitor beeped, responding to her keyed in commands. “In this iteration the product will be less dangerous and we can still pawn it off.”

He watched her as she smiled to herself, a smugness in her grin that he was all to familiar with. This was her element, he hadn’t yet been able to see her utilize her talents from her old life here, but now that he finally did he couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride for her. Despite their recent argument he smiled as he watched her, trying to imagine her back on Earth, working hard to help people as she was now. “I’m with you, you know.” 

She looked up at him from the terminal, a faint smile and a look of relief on her face. “Thank you. I know all of this… it’s a lot.” She turned back to the terminal, pressing a few more keys, ejecting the data on a cartridge and then deleting the data off the machine. She handed him the data cartridge for safe keeping, trying to extend an olive branch. “I just wanna better things around here, honest.”

“I know,” he replied, “even if the cynic in me tries to deny it. Now let’s get out of here, the smell of rotting raptidon is going to be on my clothes for weeks.” He glanced over at the pit in the center of the room, with its operating tables still covered with pieces of rapt.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Vivian said with a laugh, “Lemme rummage real quick.” Vivian unceremoniously hopped down into the area below, starting to dig through the various bins and inspect what was on the tables, as was her habit.

Max watched her with a small smile, shaking his head a bit. “You are like a sprat you know, there’s not going to be anything-”

“Oooh, check this shit out!” Vivian cut Max off, running up to him with her find, “Now this.. This is good, you’re gonna like it.” She thrust the item into his hand, it was a tossball stick. Max had no idea what a tossball stick was doing in this room, but it did seem intriguing.

Max felt the familiar heft of it in his hand, giving it a swing before giving it a closer inspection. “You’re right, I do like this. Interesting modification, the next raptidon we see will be in for a shock. Quite literally.” 

Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long until they came face to face the next raptidon, backtracking out of the room they came face to face with another one. This time, Vivian didn’t stand transfixed, and soon enough they dispatched it as a team. “You’re learning.” Max said with a smile after they had finished with it.

“The electric tossball stick certainly helped,” she replied, before they went on their way. One down, one to go for their tasks at the lab. 

The last piece of research wound up more complicated to get. “Hey, over here!” An unfamiliar voice called out. Max drew his shotgun as they approached the woman, keeping a wary eye on her. Evidently, she was the leader of these outlaws, a woman named Cassandra. Vivian heard her out, and then she and Max stepped away briefly to decide what to do.

“We have to kill her. She has the data,” Vivian started pacing back and forth a bit, by now Max could tell that meant she was nervous and verging on panicking. He was quite surprised to hear her initial reaction, there was clearly a line of thinking behind this, but it seemed unlike her to jump to such a conclusion, especially when she regularly employed her silver tongue to get them out of tough spots.

“We should exhaust all avenues before resorting to that,” he replied calmly, “This Cassandra seems to at least have some of the same goals that line up with our own. With some convincing, she may agree to part with the data.”

Vivian stopped her pacing, turning to face him with a guilty look on her face. “God, you’re right…” She shook her head slightly, “This shit has me not thinking straight.”

Max reached out towards her, pulling her into an embrace. "Take a deep breath," he said as he held her. He could feel her give into the embrace, breathing as he instructed and letting out some tension. His years of meditation was proving to come in quite handy in this instance "You said it before, there's usually a way to come out on top while still minimizing harm. One obstacle cannot stop you."

As they pulled away, Vivian nodded, the worry on her face turning to the determination that Max so admired by now. "You're right. Exercise all avenues before resorting to that."

"After that, if you still need to kill her, I'm your man." Max grinned that smug grin.

"You're my man. Full stop. End of statement." She leaned forward, planting a kiss on his cheek. She was relieved, but surprised at his words. After the debate in the bar and the argument here, she was proud that he could silence his inner cynic for once. She had tried so far to support him, even through their differences of opinion, and it felt good for him to do so as well. Reassured, in more ways than one, she went to speak to Cassandra.

The outlaw leader was a tough nut to crack. Even with all the cards in Vivian's hands, she refused to budge on her stance. She wanted out of where she was trapped, safe passage out of the building, and the data. So essentially she wanted it all. Even when Felix, Parvati, and Ellie showed up and the odds were even more stacked against her, she just dug her heels in.

"All this over some toothpaste?" Vivian told her, frustrated. At that statement, Cassandra had a look of surprise. Vivian watched her carefully, after she said it, she maybe thought spilling the beans on the experiment was a bad idea, but seeing that suppose, she could work with that. "Oh, you didn't even know what it was?” A grin spread on the captain’s face as she tried her best to lay it on thick, “I squeezed it out of Crane, it's toothpaste Cassandra, you're stealing the formula for toothpaste. Good luck finding a nice buyer for it." 

The outlaw scowled, "At this point, I'm leaving with something. Even if it's a... toothpaste formula. I've spent too much on this job and lost too many people to leave empty handed."

"Ah, the sunk cost fallacy," Max interjected, "Often seen when it comes to risk or gambling. People will just keep digging deeper into their pockets, or rack up a greater cost, before giving up, because they're afraid to come out short. You stand to lose a lot more than you already have by being stubborn."

Cassandra glared daggers at Max, but ultimately relented. After releasing her, the outlaw handed over the data, as agreed, and parted ways with them, getting what was left of her crew and turning tail. Vivian could breathe a sigh of relief, with this task done, all that was left was raiding a remote storage area, which proved to be a cake walk. They even found the part that was needed for the SAM unit Alex Hawthorne had been tinkering with. 

Despite the beauty of its landscape, Vivian was more than ready to leave Roadway behind and head for Groundbreaker. The ride back was mainly uneventful, save booting up their newest crew member. SAM's utility could not be denied, by the time the crew woke up from sleeping off Roseway, the Unreliable was so clean that Vivian couldn't help but feel icky from being on the ship before. The automech had even done everyone's laundry, much to the crew’s delight. Clean clothes felt like a luxury, and everyone was in high spirits as they killed some time waiting to arrive.

Groundbreaker felt comfortingly familiar, and after delivering their finds to Gladys (lying that the toothpaste was a fuel to hopefully minimize the harm there), Vivian thought it appropriate to let everyone head to the Lost Hope and blow off some steam. Drinks were well deserved, and even after purchasing the navkey to Stellar Bay, there were still some bits burning a hole in Vivian’s pocket. Parvati had mentioned wanting to go or drinks and get some advice about Junlei, so Vivian was excited to have a chance to have a chat with the mechanic.

It was great to have everyone around the table, spending time with each other that didn’t involve fighting ravenous creatures or sneaking around places they weren’t supposed to be. Most of the crew was well versed in drinking, but Vivian made sure to give Parvati some good advice on what to start with, counter-acting Felix and Ellie’s chants of ‘shots, shots, shots!’ The captain also made sure the group all had water available and something in their stomachs, even if it was the crappy bar food at the Lost Hope. 

As they settled in, Vivian smiled seeing them all around the table and all happy. It felt right, even in this crazy colony, she felt like he belonged among them. Seated next to her, Max gently placed his hand on her knee under the table, bringing her out of her thoughts. She smiled at him and they clinked their glasses and drank. The current conversation revolved around how raptidon would taste if they cooked it, to which she chimed in with her own theory on cooking method, "I tell ya if fresh herbs existed here, it would be a fucking game changer. Rapt steak pan seared in butter, god does butter even exist here?" The others laughed, and Max explained that there was indeed butter, though it was rare and privy. "Ok, forget Stellar Bay then, we are reselling this navkey for some butter."

The merriment continued, and after a bit of drinking, Ellie and Felix had run off to play darts, leaving Parvati, Max, and Vivian at the table. Vivian smiled at them, it was funny to think that they were her oldest friends in Halcyon, even though it had only been such a short time. Even so, Vivian had become quite attached to them both, Max she had entangled herself romantically with, and Parvati she couldn’t help but take under her wing and want to look after. The fact that the young mechanic wanted to talk to her about her love life made Vivian glad, she hoped that she could be a friend and role model for her. Some part of her was feeling maternal towards her younger crew members, Parvati especially so.

“So Parvati, are you feeling sufficiently sauced to broach the topic of Captain Tennyson?” Vivian started, trying to initiate the conversation as casually as possible. She leaned forward on the table and looking across, where Parvati sat.

The mechanic squirmed a bit, busying herself with sipping her wine, the mild choice that Vivian had suggested for her first time drinking, “I guess so…” she flushed slightly, a combination of the alcohol and the nerves. Even so, she began to ramble about Junlei, how she was excited how they had been talking all the time, but nervous about the whole thing. “I mean, what if she doesn’t accept me for who I am? How do you even know someone is the right person for you? How did y’all know you were right for each other?”

At that, Max coughed loudly, choking on his drink. Luckily Vivian hadn’t been caught mid-sip as he had, though she still froze for a moment, eyeing Parvati, then glancing at Max before looking back across the table. The captain and the vicar both started talking at the same time, their words jumbling together. Parvati watched as stopped, then started talking at the same time again, then stopped again. She watched as they did this a few times, laughing as they did so, entertained to have caught them off guard.

“Were we really that obvious?” Max managed to say, before he started to laugh a bit as well. His initial panic about the question subsided a bit, perhaps aided by the alcohol in his system. He had always known that Parvati was quite bright, her quietness often betraying that fact. If there was anyone on the crew that he would guess would figure them out first, it would be her. She did also have the advantage of being there since the beginning. So far he has been trying to keep them a secret, maybe out of shyness, maybe out of mistrust for some of the crew members, but it was sure to come out eventually, now seemed as good a time as any.

“Oh, please, you two have been thick as thieves ever since we took off from Edgewater,” Parvati replied, a sly smile on her face. “The way you watched over the captain when she was hurtin, the two of you spendin so much time together, I thought it was all pretty obvious, but maybe that was just me. I figured the vicar was sweet on you since he was so keen on looking after you when you got hurt captain.”

Vivian was soon joining in the laughter as well, Parvati was really more observant than she let on. Vivian knew she was smart as a whip, she should have figured the mechanic would suss out what was going on between them. “Guess we weren’t that good at being sly.” She reached out and grasped Max’s hand, which was resting on the table, giving it a squeeze.

Max smiled softly at her, before turning his attention back to Partake and the conversation they had bee having. “I don't know if there's a perfect way to answer a question like that. Things build up slowly in any relationship. Feelings grow over time," he shrugged, maybe the alcohol was making him a feel a bit more sentimental than he would normally allow himself to be in public. "I will say one thing though, there’s no one out there like our captain,” he glanced over at Vivian, his sentimentality showing in his eyes, “Even if I have to explain everything about Halcyon to her.” 

"It's not my fault I'm not from here," Vivian replied making a face at him, "but anyway, Parvati, if you have feelings for Junlei, you should tell her, even if it doesn't work out down the line, it's worth the risk. Don't let being nervous make you put your life on hold. Tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, or at least that's what people used to say back on earth."

Parvati nodded, "That's awful pretty Captain, and probably good advice." She leaned her chin on her hand, thinking over all they had to say to her. After a moment of contemplation the mechanic gave them a determined smile, "I’m nervous, but you all are right. When we get back to the Unreliable I'm gonna write Junlei and tell her how I feel."

"I'm sure it will go well Miss Holcomb," Max replied, raising his glass to her. "Vivian confessed her feelings for me when she was angry with me," Max glanced over at Vivian, a shy smile on his face, "and that anger was well deserved. Even that went well, so I'd expect things to go quite well for you."

"Even if you have differences with Captain Tennyson, you can talk about them, like adults." Vivian added, “That’s just how relationships work, you have to compromise on some things, and you learn to grow together.” She looked over at Max, perhaps the advice she was giving was part wishful thinking, though she did feel that they had covered a fair amount of ground together in Roseway, as difficult as it had been to go through.

The advice must have rung true to Parvati, after talking to them the mechanic was all smiles, chatting away with them about anything and everything, smiling as if she was in on some secret. When Ellie and Felix returned she even joined in on a drinking game with them, though at this point her drink had been replaced with water.

"I find it hard to believe you've never had Spectrum Violet Ellie," Felix made a face, "That one's not fair." Even so, he took a gulp out of his glass, which was coincidentally filled with Spectrum.

"It's the truth!" Ellie insisted, "It smells like cough syrup, I don't know how you you can drink the stuff. The only Spectrum Vodka I touch is Spectrum Red, and even that's only when it's a last resort. On my honor as a doctor. Now stop the holdup, your turn to come up with something."

Felix scowled at her, clearly still not convinced. "OK, OK," he said finally, "Never have I ever had sex on the Unreliable."

"Psh that's boring," Ellie protested, "Couldn't come up with anything interesting? It's not like anyone here has had enough time to-" 

The doctor's protests were interrupted by the captain and the vicar clinking their glasses together and taking a drink. Parvati laughed out loud, even with the recent hydration, the lightweight was still feeling pretty tipsy. Ellie and Felix both blinked in surprise, looking at Max and Vivian and then looking over at Parvati, who was beside herself with laughter. "Oh law, the look on your faces!" Parvati hollered when her laughs had subsided, "You two couldn't spot a Primal if it slapped you in the face, huh?"

Suddenly Felix and Ellie had a ton of questions, talking all at once. Vivian just smiled and planted a kiss on Max's cheek, that was all the explanation she needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fanfic feels like one big ramble sometimes but IM ENJOYING IT. just some fuckin sappy shit. monarch is soon though... angst part 2....


	7. Emphasis on the Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Just be cool," she instructed him as they walked off the ship, “Phineas is probably expecting just me, alone." As they made their way through, Vivian couldn't help but think that the cavernous docking bay seemed ominous, especially compared to how busy all the other ports they landed usually were. As they walked she spotted another ship, looking ragged, which must have been Phineas'. The Board had done a number on it trying to stop him from grabbing her, Parvati could have a field day getting it repaired. Maybe after things settled down. Vivian found herself thinking that a lot, at this rate, she was just hoping that things would eventually settle down._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all i got so stuck on this chapter?????????? i got so stuck on this chapter that i went and did edits on every other chapter...................................... so those edits are going up now if anyone is keen on re-reading (no worries its not like plot altering!!)
> 
> when in doubt just get on that mushy found family shit

Vivian was nervous to finally come face to face with Phineas Welles again. Even though she had grown more confident over the last few days in her choice to help him, he was still an enigma. They had been able to have a few words here and there, he seemed easy to deal with, if a bit eccentric. But now all her ambitions within this colony depended on him. He had the plan, she was just the instrument. With his directions and Navkey, getting to the lab was easy enough, hopefully navigating the conversation would be close to as easy. Max insisted on coming with her, 'just in case'. His bravado was probably unwarranted, but it did give Vivian a certain sense of security, so she agreed.

"Just be cool," she instructed him as they walked off the ship, “Phineas is probably expecting just me, alone." As they made their way through, Vivian couldn't help but think that the cavernous docking bay seemed ominous, especially compared to how busy all the other ports they landed usually were. As they walked she spotted another ship, looking ragged, which must have been Phineas'. The Board had done a number on it trying to stop him from grabbing her, Parvati could have a field day getting it repaired. Maybe after things settled down. Vivian found herself thinking that a lot, at this rate, she was just hoping that things would eventually settle down.

"I am always calm, cool, and collected my dear," Max replied, flashing her a reassuring smile. In truth, Max was wary to meet Phineas Welles as well. He told himself that it was his job to stay on the alert for any funny business that Vivian might not pick up on. One of the things about her that always impressed him was her big heart, but along with that came the fact that she always saw the best in people, and sometimes that could be dangerous. As her protector in this situation, he had chosen to wear his OSI vestments, which he seemed to have been wearing less and less lately. Being seen as a levelheaded figure of authority could be of use, or so he hoped.

"That's not true and you know it," she replied, as they made their way down the path, towards the lab proper. "Wonder what this place was before Phineas took it over…" She was more thinking aloud than anything, maybe it was her nerves that were making her a little extra chatty.

"Probably a den for bandits or some other types of criminals," Max replied as a guess, "The hidden location would be an asset to anyone trying to stay away from law enforcement, as I'm sure it is for current ownership."

"True, the perfect place for a smuggler or any other such rogues, maybe you can set up a base of operations here if you ever decide to change careers." She flashed him a smile, trying her best to keep the mood lighthearted before they had to deal with any potential conflict. Even though she trusted Max completely, she still remembered what had happened with MacRedd and was loathe to repeat the experience.

"It would appear that perhaps it's already happened," Max replied, "seeing as I am here under the employ of a certain rogue space captain." As they walked he reached out for her hand, holding it gently, but releasing it once they neared the lab itself.

Vivian felt a mix of trepidation and excitement to meet with Phineas. Their interactions had been so minimal, she felt she had a feel for him, but there was still a lot she didn't know about him or his motivations. Even if she had her worries, he was looking to shake up how things in Halcyon were, meaning he was someone she wanted to align with. Her experiences in the colony so far only served to fuel her ambitions, and as much as he needed her to do the groundwork, she needed his plan to accomplish what she hoped.

Being face to face with him with a thick pane of bulletproof glass between them wasn't exactly what she expected, though as they walked into the inner area of the lab and approached Phineas, she couldn't help but think that she should have figured the arrangement would be something like this. Vivian tried her best to look confident as she approached close to the glass that divided them.

"Welcome Vivian, welcome..." the scientist said, sizing her up from his safe position, "looks like you've been busy around Halcyon, eh? The tales of your fantastic and divisive exploits have even reached me, in my hermitage here." Vivian watched him closely, doing her best to interpret his expression. He seemed pleased, but there was something still wary about how he looked at her. "Now, I have one question for you to start," Phineas' eyes turned to Max, who was standing next to her, "who is he, and why is he here I'm my secret lab? Emphasis on the secret." The scientist still had a smile on his face, but when she looked at him, Vivian couldn't help but recall the fact that for most mammals, bared teeth was a threat.

"I'm Vicar Maximilian DeSoto, Dr. Welles-" To his credit, Max spoke professionally and calmly, all those years as a Vicar serving him well.

"I wasn't talking to you," Phineas interrupted, his tone sharp. His eyes darted back to where Vivian stood, "Why is he here Vivian? The secrecy of my location is very important if we want to save the other colonists on the Hope. I cannot emphasize this enough. If he can't be trusted, then I'm in danger, and the whole mission is in danger!" Even with his voice slightly raised, Phineas' tone seemed more worried than angry.

"Phineas, relax, please. I trust him, more than anyone else on my crew," Vivian tried to gesture reassuringly, which she discovered felt harder to do when the person you were talking to was behind glass.

"Crew? As in multiple people? How many people did you bring here?" Phineas had calmed a bit, he still looked a bit nervous, but his focus seemed to be on thinking through this new development.

"Well, three more, and a robot. And Ada if she counts, but she controls the ship so it's not like I could get here without her," Vivian counted off, nodding at Phineas.

"And two bred worms," Max added. Despite the fact that they could possibly be in danger if the scientist got too panicked, he couldn't help but find some amusement in watching Phineas squirm. Vivian had told him about an old earth adage, to turn the other cheek, but Max had never been that kind of person.

"Oh yes! And two bred worms, thank you Max." Vivian replied sincerely, not picking up that the vicar was trying to push Phineas' buttons. A look of irritation swept over Phineas' face as he watched them. "I don't think the worms are gonna spill the beans though." Vivian replied lightheartedly, flashing a charming smile, often her best weapon in these situations.

Phineas was quiet for a moment, contemplating. "That's not funny," he replied flatly, "but if you trust this crew of yours, I suppose I have no choice but to trust them as well. You can’t un-bring them here, and the Board's soldiers haven't kicked down my door yet so I suppose your merry band of misfits can be trusted for now, even if one is a member of the OSI." He turned his attention to Max, addressing him for the first time, "Do you buy into all that Great Architect crap vicar? Where does blowing up the whole of society fit into that Plan of his?"

Vivian could see the annoyance creeping up Max's face, she was almost about to interject, hoping to diffuse the tension in the room, but he spoke up. "As a matter of fact, I do, I would be a poor vicar if I did not." Thankfully Max was able to keep his composure, he had learned a thing or two about not rising to someone's bait from their encounter with MacRedd. "And it's the Grand Architect. If you plan on reshaping the entire colony, you should really know more about the material you're working with Dr. Welles."

"Alright alright, we've established that you're both witty and wary of each other," Vivian interjected nervously, causing both men to simmer down a bit, "Let's skip to the part where we begrudgingly get along for a common goal. Tell us about Monarch Phineas, please."

To her relief, both Max and Phineas complied. Phineas explained the planet to them, lawless, dangerous, etc, and detailed where they would find his contact and what she was to expect from her (which was also lawless and dangerous as it so happened). Vivian promised to keep in touch, and to bring back some mock apples for Bubbles the cystypig (Phineas claimed he had been shorted on shipments, tragically leaving Bubbles without his favorite treat, and Vivian was more than happy to make an animal’s day if she could).

As they left Phineas' lab and began making their way through the docking area, Vivian exhaled, feeling like it was the first time she could since they touched down here. "That could have gone worse," she reflected as she and Max approached the Unreliable.

"That man is an ass." Max replied, looking a bit peeved. While he was in agreement that the meeting went over fairly well, he had also decided that he did not like Phineas Welles. 

"Even if you two don't see eye to eye, we still need him," Vivian reminded him, "besides, I think you two have more in common than you think." Max scoffed at the suggestion, but said nothing else as they entered the ship. "Looks like the kids haven't burned down the ship while we were gone at least."

"The kids?" Max replied, curious. Vivian gave him a sideways glance, somewhat embarrassed. Since meeting them all, her crew had become very important to her. They were more than a crew, or so Vivian liked to think, she considered them more like family. But hadn't really said as much to the rest, thinking that perhaps she was being overly sentimental. She was quiet as they made their way into the ship, only speaking briefly to tell Ada to set a course for Stellar Bay.

"I don't think Felix is mine you know," Max said after a bit of silence. Vivian looked over at him, a confused look on her face. Before she could respond, he continued. "If they are our children, he’s too dense to have any of my DNA." He smiled at her, hoping to put her at ease. There was a lot of pressure on her now that the ball was rolling on Phineas' plan, and he didn't want to allow her to add to her worries. When it came to the rest of the crew, he enjoyed their company, but he mainly regarded his relationship with Parvati, Felix, and Ellie as more professional than friendly. He knew well enough how sentimental Vivian could be, it was one of the things her liked about her, and he and the crew were fortunate to have someone like her in their corner.

Vivian gave him a playful shove as they made their way up to the galley, "I think you and Felix are more alike than you think too," she said, her expression softening. "I'm probably more attached than I should be, but you're all stuck with me, so get used to it."

"You have a big heart Vivian, we're all quite lucky if someone like you looks after us like we're your own." He smiled at her, despite all the uncertainty in his life, about their course of action, about the man they were working for, and about the near future of facing Monarch, she was the one thing that felt certain. Despite part of him still nagging that he was making a mistake by getting wrapped up in this revolutionary scheme, he trusted her, and would follow wherever she went.

"Thanks Max," the captain replied. They approached the galley, where the 'kids' we're already gathered, it looked like while they were away Parvati was showing Felix and Ellie a thing or two about maintaining their weapons. The galley looked more like a repair bay, the kitchen table was laden with parts, and each of them were at work on something. 

"Pardon our mess captain," Parvati said as soon as she saw the captain and the vicar approach, "I figured we could use a tune up before our next stop." She looked a bit bashful, probably worried to have possibly inconvenienced someone. She reflexively began picking up some of the weapon pieces close to her.

"No need to apologize Parvati, that's a smart idea," Vivian smiled at the mechanic, "Since we've charted a course to Stellar Bay, it's better to be safe than sorry, I think we've all learned that by now." Vivian wanted to get some rest, but after briefing the crew on their tasks on Monarch, she had Max fetch her rifle and his shotgun for maintenance as well. It was a nice feeling to have them all in the same room, and while Vivian let Parvati work on her rifle, the captain prepared something for them all to eat.

"So, the vicar's got game, huh?" Felix asked, looking up from where he was working on some mods for his plasma launcher. After the bar, there hadn't been much prying about Max and Vivian's relationship, but Vivian could sense the curiosity around the ship.

Max usually found Felix's questions annoying, but he figured now was as good a time as any to be more friendly towards the rest of the crew. And he always took an opportunity to brag in stride. "I most certainly do Mr. Millstone," he replied, looking up at the younger man, "Are you looking for tips?" The response caused some laughter from the girls, entertained by Max actually participating in the conversation rather than brushing them off like he usually did. It felt vastly different to be part of their laughter, rather than the one it was directed at.

"Did you sweep her off her feet?" Parvati asked, more romantically minded than Felix, "What did you do after she said she liked you?" 

Vivian listened contentedly from where she stood, stirring a pot on the stove. Max had a habit of being standoffish with people other than her, part of her was flattered by the fact that this stubborn man had grown attached to her, but she had also hoped that he would be able to bond with the others as well. There was a side of him that he had reserved for her, the side of him she had fallen in love with, but she knew that others would like that side of him too. She was pleased to feel that it seemed to be coming out a bit tonight. 

"I think it would be more accurate to say that she swept me off my feet," Max replied after taking a bit of a pause. He wasn't very good at talking about this sort of thing with others, he had spent so much of his life with no one he could rely on, it seemed like that part of himself was out of practice. Words usually came easy to him, but here with the crew's eyes on him, he found himself uncertain. Even so, he was finding spending time with the others more enjoyable than he would have anticipated, so he would at least make an effort.

"After she confessed her feelings," Max paused, debating on how much he wanted to say about the matter, "Well, obviously I reciprocated those feelings, so I kissed her. And as you might remember, she had a concussion, so as I promised, I looked after her." He glanced around the room, somewhat nervous about sharing even these small personal details.

"It was very sweet," Vivian added, looking over at them, smiling softly. She was happy to see him opening up, but also figured he would appreciate a bit of a lifeline, "Max is secretly a big softie, don't let him fool you."

A flush crept up Max's face, though he tried his best to take the comment in stride. "I might be when it comes to you Vivian, but as for the rest of you, the jury's still out." The room was silent for a second, but Max soon smiled and started to laugh, and everyone laughed along with him.

"Admit it vicar, you're starting to grow accustomed to us," Parvati said with a grin.

"Alright, perhaps I am," was his response. 

The food was done shortly after, the table was cleaned off, and soon enough they were all gathered around to eat. The conversation switched towards what they imagined they would find on Monarch, with Felix musing about how awesome it would be when they were 'damn big heroes', taming the wild planet. Vivian was happy, it warmed her heart to see everyone spending time together, her big happy found family. Things had been crazy during her time in Halcyon, but sitting here with all of them, simply sharing a meal, that felt right. She felt more at home than she had since arriving here, and looked forward to more of that feeling.

"You didn't do so bad back there," Vivian was walking arm and arm with Max, on their way back to the captain's quarters. They had left behind the rest of the crew to clean up. "Max DeSoto, functioning member of society and big softie."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he responded, "I will admit it was a pleasant time, perhaps I've been too judgemental when it comes to the rest of the crew. I should act as a better father figure, since you're so keen on adopting them after all."

“Oh, shut up,” she replied, “You’ll never let me live that one down down, huh?” She smiled a bit as they walked, despite her earlier worries, the day had turned out pretty well. "When you were younger did you ever think that you had your life planned out? Like, career in your twenties, married by twenty five, kids by thirty? I suppose that’s not the norm here like it was back on earth, huh?" As they approached the captain’s quarters, the door opened for them with a familiar whooshing sound.

"Well, I've always lived my life according to what I thought the Plan laid out for me. With one exception." Max watched her carefully as she started to settle into the room, it had been a little while since she had talked about her life on earth, he was eager to hear more, but wanted to be respectful. "Leaving Edgewater with you is probably the only time I made a decision without the Plan in mind."

"Well, you came with me partially to find a translator for that book, that's still part of the Plan right? I think you're safe from going to whatever counts as hell in Scientism." Vivian took a seat on the bunk, sinking down into the pile of pillows she had managed to accumulate, glad for some downtime before facing whatever Monarch had in store.

"Ah, well yes that's true I suppose," Max replied, his voice a bit nervous. That would be true, if he really was after a translator rather than revenge. He undid the buttons on his vestments, shrugging his outer layer off and hanging it on a hook near the door. In the recent past, this room had started to become just as much his as it was Vivian's, he hadn't spent the night in his own bunk for a few days, and even before that his things had begun to accumulate, casually mixing themselves in with hers in a way that seemed so natural.

If she detected the nerves in his voice, she didn't mention it. Vivian was caught in her own head as well, "You know back on earth that was the general consensus of the path of a life. I always thought I would have kids of my own you know? You always grow up thinking that." She paused, realizing that she was rambling a bit. "I dunno, maybe I'm feeling extra maternal or something." Vivian looked up at him where he was standing, finally noting the far off look in his eyes. “You ok Max? Sorry, family’s kinda a sore spot, right?” 

With that, he snapped out of his own far away thoughts, “Oh, there’s no need to apologize, as you know I was never close with my parents, but I wouldn’t say it pains me too much. I’ve always been very good at being independent.” He joined her on the bunk, taking his customary seat by her side. “But, I’m starting to learn that having others in my life has its benefits.” He leaned his head on her shoulder, aiming to enjoy this last moment of tranquility before they reached Monarch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why do i do shit like this right before things are gonna explode on monarch


	8. Figure Out How You Tick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Let’s secure the building,” Max said as soon as they stepped through the threshold of the building, surprisingly business-like. Vivian nodded, following along with his temporary serious mood. If they were going to do something as potentially reckless as sex in an abandoned building in Monarch, they might as well be as safe as possible about it. It didn’t take too long to do so, the building was mercifully empty of other living things, and a heavy pew pushed across the locked front door felt as secure as it could be. At the very least, if they were going to be stormed by marauders or beasts, they would hear them coming._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes you go on a sex in a church tangent, and thats valid

Monarch was far more pleasant than Vivian would have anticipated. The stench was awful, but despite what they had been told, the town of Stellar Bay was friendly and thriving. Without the grip of the major corporations, the employees actually had a shot of living a good life. When she heard about striking workers she damn near jumped for joy. As with any new place, Vivian was thrilled to socialize with anyone they passed by, netting them tons of info on the area, and a number of jobs they could pursue. They managed to track down Phineas’ contact easily, though getting her to a state where she could be useful, that was proving to be the real challenge. 

Vivian had dismissed most of the crew for some shore leave to explore the town, but as usual, Max stuck with her as she made her tour of Stellar Bay. That left the two of them to work on obtaining Nyoka’s caffenoid pills, which led them from the town’s dispensary out into the wilds. “This place isn’t as bad as the Board makes it out to be, huh?” she asked, making conversation as they headed towards the town’s outskirts, “Sanjar actually treats his employees like people, what a concept!”

“This place has found a way to survive, despite all its challenges,” Max replied. It certainly was a change from what he was used to throughout the rest of the colony, and he probably wouldn't have believed it if he didn’t see it. “Maybe I was wrong when I had my reservations about things not being able to change around here.” For this first and hopefully brief sojourn outside of Stellar Bay’s walls, they were not keen on repeating past mistakes, and both were armored up. Vivian had assessed they would be able to handle it just the two of them and she was hoping she wasn’t wrong.

“Hmm, maybe we’ll make a revolutionary out of the straight laced vicar yet,” Vivian teased, shouldering her rifle as they passed through the massive doors leading out of Stellar Bay. They were greeted with some of the most alien flora that Vivian had seen yet, her eyes lit up behind the mask of her helmet.

“Maybe,” Max responded coyly, “But first we have to make progress on the task at hand, and not be distracted by all the pretty plants.” Even with her face covered up, he knew her too well. 

As they made their way towards the graveyard, the area seemed quiet. Similar to Edgewater, there were a number of abandoned structures dotting the landscape just outside of Stellar Bay. Vivian did her best to suppress the desire to explore them all, this was supposed to be a quick and easy trip after all. “We’ll have to check out this area more later,” she said, “Look, they even have a church over yonder.” She gestured down the road, “That’s definitely worth a rummage, don’t you think?”

“I know that you won’t be able to resist the hidden spoils of all these abandoned buildings, no matter what I say,” Max turned to face her, looking at where she was pointing, “I won’t begrudge you your habits, since they more than often turn up enough bits to make them worthwhile.” Vivian cheered excitedly, giving him a quick hug, their armor briefly clacking together in a way that made them both burst out laughing. “When we’re out of these damn tin cans you can give me a proper hug as a thank you.”

As luck had it, the graveyard wasn’t much further, but that was about where their luck, and the missing doctor’s, had run out. As they arrived, a raptidon was prowling around his fresh corpse, which by now was missing some of its components. The rapt spotted them and growled, a low, reverberating sound, indicating that it was ready to make them its second course. “Typical,” Vivian murmured as she readied her rifle, “Ready for a fight Max?”

“You already know I always am, my dear,” he replied, and the fight began. By now, Vivian was getting more practiced with her rifle, and jumped into the fight with confidence. She still didn’t like having to fight, but thanks to the guidance of Max and the rest of the crew, she was growing more capable. Her and Max stuck close to each other, firing at the first raptidon, and the others that approached in turn. Rapts were easier to fight than people, they were wild animals, and Vivian could predict what they would do, to a degree.

“On your left,” she said, keeping her tone calm despite the battle raging around them. Max nodded and turned abruptly, dispatching the raptidon he had been alerted towards quickly. He smiled to himself, despite the danger they were in, he was proud to see her with some fight in her. He was a few other things beside proud too, but there would be a time and a place to express those kinds of feelings.

After a few frenzied moments, all the rapts were down and besides being covered in blood and rapt spit, both Max and Vivian were intact. She pulled her helmet off, taking deep breaths of fresh air. “As much as I hate how the corporations operate in this system, Aramid Ballistics makes some damn fine armor.” Vivian smiled at Max, shaking out her hair a bit.

“It does feel good to end a fight and still be in one piece,” Max replied, undoing his own helmet as well, now that they were out of imminent danger. It felt good to just watch her for a moment, even with her hair a mess and armor covered in raptidon goo, she was beautiful.

“You have that look in your eyes,” Vivian had reached down to find the doctor’s keycard, finding it easily before turning back to Max and taking the few steps to close the gap between them.

“What look?” His attempt to play coy fell flat, causing Vivian to laugh.

“The look like you’re counting down the seconds until you can undress me and have your way with me,” Vivian replied with a smile on her lips, knowing that would just rile him up even more, “Fighting rapts got ya goin Max?”

“There’s just something about seeing a beautiful woman fight a bunch of horrible monsters, I just can’t help myself,” he reached out to place a hand on her hip, really wishing that there weren't so many layers between them. “How about we go check out some of those abandoned buildings you were so interested in before?”

“You are not sly Max DeSoto,” Vivian feigned a scolding tone, but her grin betrayed her, “But yes, let’s go check them out.” With a better lay of the land than before, it was easy for the two of them to reach the ruined buildings. “Where should we look first?” Vivian purred, leaning into the tone of the conversation. She leaned close to him, “Maybe the church? Some familiar territory?” She smiled a bit, but then frowned, “Wait shit, is that blasphemy?”

Max didn’t respond, but simply grabbed her by the hand and began leading her towards where the abandoned OSI church stood. She couldn’t help but be amused by his mood. She had genuinely worried for a moment that she had perhaps offended him with her suggestion of the church, but it seemed to do just the opposite.

“Let’s secure the building,” Max said as soon as they stepped through the threshold of the building, surprisingly business-like. Vivian nodded, following along with his temporary serious mood. If they were going to do something as potentially reckless as sex in an abandoned building in Monarch, they might as well be as safe as possible about it. It didn’t take too long to do so, the building was mercifully empty of other living things, and a heavy pew pushed across the locked front door felt as secure as it could be. At the very least, if they were going to be stormed by marauders or beasts, they would hear them coming.

Vivian smiled as they faced each other, “God, I am so ready to get out of this armor,” she began to reach to unbuckle her outer layer, but before she could, Max’s hands were on her, working feverishly to unclasp it. Seeing him like this just made her grin widen, “Someone’s excited…” she said, trailing off a bit as pieces of her armor clattered to the floor. She looked down at him as he began to work on her leg armor. “Let me get those, you can start on your own,” she reached down, placing her hand gently on his chin and tiling his head head up a bit.

Max blinked at her, as if snapping out of a daydream, “Of course,” he replied softly, feeling slightly embarrassed in his zeal, though he knew it was something that Vivian was used to by now. “I can’t help myself around you Vivian, especially after seeing how you handled that rifle of yours today….” His hands fumbled with the fastenings of his own armor, watching her as she deftly undid the rest of her own and stood in front of him, waiting. He swallowed hard, busying himself with his armor and managing to get the rest of it off without incident.

“You’re really cute when you’re all worked up like that,” Vivian closed the gap between them, placing her hands on Max’s hips. Now that he wasn’t constrained by his armor, his arousal was very apparent, and as she pressed her body against his, she could only feel him get harder. “You’re the expert on our locale, where would you like me vicar?” 

“That smile of yours is dangerous,” he said, leaning forward to plant a kiss on her lips. She leaned into him, her hands squeezing the soft skin above his hips. He pulled away from her briefly, “Follow me…” He reached down to grab her hand, leading her deeper into the building. The layout of this church wasn’t exactly the same as the one he ran back in Edgewater, but it was close enough that he was able to find what he was looking for. 

The vicar of this establishment, wherever they may be now, seemed to keep an office similar to his own. The shelves were barren, the fabric of the chairs was rotting, but even with a thin layer of dust, the intricately carved wooden desk still had a regal look to it. “Mmmm, you’re a nerd Max, do you know that?” Vivian watched him as he shifted his gaze over from the desk to where she stood. "My mind had jumped to some sort of altar or something-"

"A vicar's desk is more sacred than any altar or pulpit," he cut her off, his tone sharp and prideful, but she could hear his affection for her in it, "This is where the real work of the OSI happens, where we solve all the greatest puzzles of the universe, and I plan on unraveling you like a particularly difficult puzzle. Take off your clothes." He was a man who was used to giving orders, she shivered a bit at his words. 

"You don't have to tell me twice," she replied, reaching for the buttons on her shirt. His stern look softened at that response, and he smiled at her. As she disrobed she approached where he stood, leaving a trail of her clothing behind. He watched her hungrily, beginning to undress as well. By the time she reached him he was down to his boxer briefs, which left very little to the imagination.

Max eased forward towards her, planting a kiss on her lips, more gentle than she would have guessed from the look in his eyes. He pulled away and guided her to sit on the edge of the desk. "The human body is the most complicated machine that the Grand Architect created, many countless hours have been spent figuring out how it ticks…" He placed his hand on her knee, tracing up along her leg towards her thigh. 

Vivian shivered under his touch, this was usually more verbose than he was in bed, but she was very much enjoying it. There was something about his calm, practiced tone that she was finding herself very, very into. She found herself reaching towards him, but he grabbed her hand before she could touch him, directing it back to where it sat on the desk by her side. "I wonder how well I've figured out how you tick captain…" His hand reached near the top of her thigh, and with a gentle touch he spread her legs apart. "I wonder how many if I can make you cum more than once..."

Max’s bedroom talk typically waxed poetic, he would spin his carefully crafted commentary and whisper sweet nothings in her ear, but when it came to dirty talk, Max was typically woefully limited. He tended to avoid it, preferring to instead grandstand when it came to what was said between the sheets. To hear him simply say cum, even peppered in with his normal poetry, was delightful. “Oh, Maximillian…” she purred, never one to shy away from an opportunity to tease him, “Such a filthy mouth, quite unbecoming of a vicar…” Vivian smiled at him, giving her best bedroom eyes.

"My chatty captain," Max moved his free hand to cup her chin gently, "By now I know a few ways to quiet that mouth of yours…" He leaned forward, planting a deep kiss on her lips and simultaneously snaked his hand on the lower part of her body, quickly finding her clit with his thumb. These actions proved to do the trick, Vivian had nothing more to say, save a few soft noises of pleasure. She leaned back on her hands, scooting herself slightly closer to the edge of the desk, he was talking a big game, and she was eager to see him rise to the challenge he had set.

Max pulled away from the kiss, lowering his lips to kiss her hard along the neck and collarbone, intending to leave some marks. To his amusement he found that her pale skin was very susceptible to his little love bites, reddening quickly. For a moment he considered trying to write his name across her collarbone, but figured that would be a touch too uncouth. 

He smiled to himself as she purred under him, that smug smile that was so often seen across his face. At her first utterance of his name he rewarded her, probing a finger inside of her. This elicited even more noise from her, much to his amusement. Vivian had thought to keep it down a bit at first, seeing as they were in the wilds, but she couldn't help herself when it came to Max. Even with the possibility of danger, Max wasn't complaining about the noise she made. He had grown quite accustomed to it by now.

Vivian sunk back slightly, tracing a line in the dust of the desk with her elbows as she came to rest on them. Max was working diligently, trying to bring her close before taking things further. He leaned forward again so he was close to her, kissing her again before moving lower to bury his face between her breasts. He could feel her quivering at his touch and at his kisses, and as she murmured his name again he took that as his cue. 

He stood up straight, briefly removing his fingers from inside her in order to finally remove his underwear. She looked up at him, flushed, a hungry look in her eyes. "Are you ready Vivian?" He leaned forward again, running his fingers through her hair. 

Speech felt beyond her, the brief removal of his touch was driving her crazy, as she was sure he had planned. Vivian nodded with vigor, and Max removed his hand from her hair, using one hand to guide himself inside her, and the other to grip her hip to stay steady. He slid himself into her slow and deep, reminding himself to take it slow at first, lest all of his big talk wind up ironically anticlimactic. He made a low groaning sound as he entered her, getting her warmed up had also served to heighten his own arousal. Beneath him, Vivian was breathing heavily, Max studied her face, marvelling at how her expression changed as he began to thrust into her. 

“Max I’m-” Vivian couldn’t even finish the sentence, succumbing to her orgasm. Max slowed his pace briefly, using both of his hands to steady her as she slowly sunk down into a lying position on top of the desk. She squealed in her pleasure, kicking up slightly with her feet. It was music to his ears, but he wasn’t done yet.

“There’s one….” Max said, his voice breathy, “Do you want me to slow down?” He placed his hand gently on her chest to steady himself, feeling her breathing. 

Vivian shook her head, “No, keep going… please…” she replied, placing her hand on top of his where it rested on her. Even with his ferocity in this encounter, his dancing with dirty talk, Max’s tenderness shone through. She was quite enjoying the ferocity though, so Vivian took the opportunity to goad him, “No need to treat me like I’m so fragile vicar, fuck me as hard as you want.”

A smile spread across Max’s face, “As you command captain…” His hands ventured back to her hips, gripping them tightly as he quickened his pace. Vivian gripped the sides of the desk with her hands, trying her best to stabilize herself a bit as she bobbed up and down with his thrusts. Max watched her moving under him, his face full of concentration as he kept up a steady rhythm. At this rate, he was past words, devolving into moans and the occasional breathy mention of Vivian’s name. 

Max picked up his pace, penetrating deep with each thrust. His original goal was still in his mind, despite starting to lose himself in the moment. He could hear her moans increasing in volume once again, meaning he was on the right track. He squeezed her hips tightly, bracing himself as he teetered on the edge of his release. Vivian murmured his name again, and he could feel her shudder beneath him, letting out a telltale scream, and that was enough to push him over the edge as well. With a few more labored thrusts, he finished, falling forward on top of her as gently as he could.

Vivain's chest rose and fell as she breathed, she was out of breath, and somewhat dazed, but there was a smile on her face. Even though she was sweaty and there was certainly going to be dust smeared all over her back, she purred contentedly, raising her arms to wrap around Max's body, collapsed in a heap on top of her. They lay there for about as long as they could bear, both slightly too winded to move.

Once he caught his breath, Max slowly rose, offering Vivian a hand to help her up as well. She accepted it and stood, but soon enough they were both sinking to the floor, leaning back against the desk. "Maybe I am a nerd, as you say, but I frequently fantasised about fucking someone on my desk back in Edgewater," Max glanced down at where Vivian's head rested on his chest.

"Was it all you ever dreamed of?" she replied, her hand brushing through the scattering of graying hair on his stomach. She was glad for this moment of rest, as much as she wanted to get back into town for some booze and a proper bed, her legs felt like jelly, and would still need a few moments to recover.

"It's very rare that reality is ever able to surpass fantasy, after all our minds build things up," he squeezed her gently, "But I would have to say that this greatly surpassed my daydreams from back then." They sat in silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying the closeness of each others bodies, before finally standing up and starting to get their clothes back on.

"Let's get out of here before some rapts come sniffing around, thinking they heard some sort of mating call," Max said as they approached their pile of shed armor.

"I wasn't that loud was I?" Vivian looked indignant, aboard the ship she usually felt too self conscious to be too loud, but out here she hadn't resigned to let herself enjoy it.

"I'd be surprised if they didn't hear you from the Groundbreaker," Max teased as he started putting on his armor. Vivian flushed a deep crimson, but he reached out towards her hand giving it a gentle squeeze, "I must say I quite enjoyed it though, music to my ears…"

"Alright, alright, I guess we will have to abscond into the wilds to fuck more often then." A smile returned to Vivian's face as she continued putting her armor on. "And next time you can go for a high score again."

"I'll be looking forward to it…" he replied.


	9. Not Very Good At Being Close To People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _They made it to Cheneys's rented room before Max could even think about mitigating the mess he anticipated walking into. The place was mercifully empty, so he would have some more time to think about what to say before he clobbered the man, and what to say to Vivian after. "Are you sure your intel is right Max?" Vivian asked as she started to rummage through Cheney's belongings, "I expected a scholar to have a bunch of books lying around, maybe a chalkboard filled up with some math or something, you know, nerd stuff."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its fallbrook time baby

With the caffenoid in her system, Nyoka was far easier to have a conversation with. She agreed to join them with gusto, and their party was complete. After finishing up the last few things in town and making sure they were prepared, the crew headed out into the wilds of Monarch. With Nyoka as their guide, and sticking by the roads, the trip was easier than expected, but not completely without danger. 

Nyoka got along well with everyone else, fielding Felix's mountains of questions about hunting, life on Monarch, or whatever else popped into his head. After a fight with some marauders, she mentioned how nice it was to be traveling with people who actually knew their way around a gun for once. "We should stop for the night, it gets more dangerous round these parts after dark. We can stop over in Amber Heights," she suggested as the sun started to set, "The Iconoclasts are a bit nutty, but overall, they’re good people."

Max bristled at the idea, but didn't protest. After all they had heard about the group in Stellar Bay, he had accepted the idea that they were probably going to visit the Iconoclast settlement before their time on Monarch was up. Vivian hadn't explicitly stated it, but he knew enough about her and desire to help everyone, to know her kindness also extended to heathens and heretics. The thought of spending the night among philosophists made his skin crawl, but it did seem preferable to spending the night among mantisaurs and raptidons.

The heretics were hospitable enough, as it turned out. In return for the hospitality, Vivian volunteered the crew to help out a bit around the town. Max was reluctant at first, but all it took was one 'pretty please' from Vivian and he found himself reprogramming some of the town's woefully maintained terminals. 

When Vivian went to introduce herself to the group's leaders, Max insisted on tagging along. "I want to hear what this idiot Graham has to say firsthand," he explained in a low tone as they made their way through the town towards where they were told they could meet Graham and Zora, "It's a wonder to see people who are wrong try to justify themselves."

Vivian rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm. "Just promise me you won't try to physically fight him," the captain replied, "Who knows, maybe his ideas will help you get a better grasp on that equation of yours."

Max scoffed, "A canid learning to speak would be more likely." 

Fortunately for Vivian, the meeting didn't end in fisticuffs. Max and Graham had argued back and forth quite a bit, but at the end Vivian was starting to agree a bit with Max's evaluation that Graham was 'within a 25% idiocy range'. Even from her brief time in Amber Heights, she could tell the people were struggling. She knew herself to be an idealist, but Graham's priorities seemed completely out of whack. At least his second in command seemed to have sense.

Graham had some ideas that Vivian could follow along with, and during their back and forth, he even managed to to stump Max once or twice. She found it interesting to watch the two of them talk, it wasn't often that Max met his match, and she had a feeling deep down, even if he disagreed with what Graham was saying, he was enjoying having someone to debate. What she was hearing about philosophism seemed far more grounded in things that she could understand than the things Max had told her about the OSI.

"I will admit that Graham's not as much of an idiot as I thought he'd be," Max mused as they made their way towards where the iconoclasts had allowed them to sleep for the night. He reached for her hand as they walked, interlacing his fingers with hers. "But in other ways he's worse... I urge you to be careful in future dealings with him Vivian." His tone turned somewhat serious, concern showing in his voice, "He's an idealist, like you, but he lacks awareness of the consequences of his actions. He lacks your level of empathy towards others, in fact, he embodies a lot of the worries I had about you before I got to know you better."

She smiled at him, and squeezed his hand as they walked, "Thank you Max, you know I always take what you have to say to heart. This pit stop didn't wind up too bad, did it?”

"No, it didn't, but ask me again after we have to share a room with everyone else on the crew…" After a short walk, they reached the room. Their accommodations were tight but passable, with enough cots laid out for each of them, but not much room other than that. Max had certainly had better nights of sleep elsewhere, but in the morning he didn't have any commentary.

With some more missions added to their to-do list from Zora and Graham, they were off again, and this time the course was set for Fallbrook. Max felt a looming sense of dread as they traveled the road, he had pushed finally tracking down Cheney to the back of his mind, telling himself that perhaps it was unlikely that the man was even in Fallbrook. It would be a disappointment, but compared to revealing to Vivian that he had lied to her, maybe that was the best outcome.

As they walked, the crew was all chatter. Nyoka pointed out particularly dangerous plants to Felix and Ellie, and regaled them with stories of the hunt. Felix, as usual, had a bevvy of questions, he had the habit of asking whatever popped into his head, regardless of relevance. 

Vivian noticed Max's brooding fairly quickly, and sidled alongside him, matching his pace as they walked. "Nervous about finding that translator of yours?" she ventured, looking over at him.

"I suppose you'be caught me ruminating again," Max replied, attempting a smile that wound up coming off as tired. "I am worried, yes… Whatever happens in Fallbrook will change the trajectory of my path, and I don't want that to damage what I have with you."

"Listen, whatever happens we'll tackle it together," Vivian reassured him with a smile, but she couldn't help but feel there was still something off. She was planning on pushing him a bit more on the issue, but this was Monarch, and in the next instant they were set upon by a swarm of mantisaurs. Luckily, they didn't have a queen in their ranks, so they were fairly easy to wipe out. But after, they were all winded, and conversation halted while that made the rest of the trip to Fallbrook.

They made it to the settlement without major injury, and even with the weariness from the road, Vivian was ready to head straight to business. Now that they were within the safety of Fallbrook's walls, Vivian let the crew disperse for some free time, heading out herself to get to know the lay of the land. Max followed behind her, as usual. "Let's check in with Catherine first, then we can sniff around for your translator," Vivian said as they left the docking bay, where she had used her ID card to signal Ada to fly the ship over. "Then drinks maybe? I'd sure as hell like to blow off some steam after the dusty road."

Max was still in his aloof mood, now that they were coming closer to finding Cheney. He looked over at her and smiled a bit, "That sounds like as good an order of operations as any." He was excited to finally come face to face with the man who had set him up for such a catastrophic failure, even with the thoughts that there might be issues with Vivian. He had been dwelling on this lapse of judgement for some time now, but it was time to just rip off the band-aid. 

The town of Fallbrook was far more charming than Vivian would have expected. With its string lights, waterfall, and cavern, it had its own kind of beauty, and it was the kind of beauty that Vivian was finding herself enjoying very much. It also didn't hurt that there seemed to be a decent amount of sprats running around. Perhaps she was the odd one out in the whole galaxy, but she thought the little things were just the cutest. The fact that Max had kept her from bringing some aboard the Unreliable thus far was nothing short of a miracle.

Catherine was easy enough to find, and easy enough to deal with. She was tough, but a straight-shooter, something that both Vivian and Max could appreciate. She gave what help she could with how to approach the Cascadia mission, gave them some tasks of her own, and even pointed them in the direction of the house being rented by Reginald Cheney. "It's just a stone's throw, can't miss it. What business anyone would have with that squirrely weirdo is beyond me, but there ya go." And so they were off, to either Max's doom or his vindication, it was hard to know which.

They made it to Cheneys's rented room before Max could even think about mitigating the mess he anticipated walking into. The place was mercifully empty, so he would have some more time to think about what to say before he clobbered the man, and what to say to Vivian after. "Are you sure your intel is right Max?" Vivian asked as she started to rummage through Cheney's belongings, "I expected a scholar to have a bunch of books lying around, maybe a chalkboard filled up with some math or something, you know, nerd stuff."

"I'm sure this is the right place," His tone was flat as he looked around the rented room. Even though he hadn't seen the man in many years, he could still remember some of his old habits. Algae Lager, Spacer's Chaw, a variety of junk foods and stimulants, this was Cheney alright. 

Vivian pulled a piece of paper out of a stack that was haphazardly strewn across the room's small desk. She held it up for Max to see, "Looks like your scholar is panning for gold." Max spied a familiar scrawl upon it, a map with notes on where to look for riches in the area. "This area by the river is circled, I would venture a guess that he's there right now. Let's go!" She dropped the paper on the floor unceremoniously, making her way for the door without waiting for any confirmation.

They reached the spot indicated on the map quickly enough, sloshing through the river. And there he was, and all of Max's words that he had been trying to carefully craft were gone, all that was left was his anger. "Oh, hey Vicar Max, what are you doing here?" The man in front of seemed startled to see them, his nerves apparent in how his voice quivered slightly. "I thought the OSI wasn’t welcome on Monarch."

Max could feel his blood boil, and Cheney's comment only served to feed his anger. He took a lumbering step towards the other man, fists clenched. "Haven't you heard, everyone is welcome here, even rats like you." He took another menacing step towards Cheney.

"Max, what's going on?" Vivian's voice behind him sounded far away. She reached for his arm but he yanked it away, his focus on the man he had been after.

"He's not a scholar, I lied to you about him. This is the man who told me about that fucking journal and sent me on a wild fucking goose chase." His words were harsh and blunt, like his mood. Max surged forward, grabbing Cheney by the shirt collar and lifting him with surprising ease. "And now I'm gonna inflict massive amounts of pain on him."

From there, things happened rather quickly, Cheney began hurriedly begging for Max to put him down, telling him he knew who could help him with the book. Behind him, Vivian was yelling for him to stop. Cheney squirmed in his grasp, fumbling for something in his pocket, which turned out to be a knife. "Oh, what are you going to do Reginald? Stab me?" Max growled.

Reginald Cheney stabbed him. Max made an 'oof' noise as the small knife made contact with his torso, but even that didn't stop his rage. He threw Cheney down, causing him to thankfully drop his knife. Max was on top of him in an instant, wailing on the man. Cheney fought back, to his credit, but was clearly no match for Max.

It took Vivian hitting Max upside the head with a tossball stick to snap him out of his frenzy. He fell back, lying on the ground and staring up at Vivian, who was still gripping the stick, shaking slightly. Cheney scooted away from both of them, his nose dripping blood down his shirt. Max himself was sporting a bleeding stab wound and what was soon going to be a black eye. "Max, what the fuck was that? Explain." Vivian’s voice was shaky with fear and anger. 

Slightly dazed, it took Max a few minutes to respond. "I didn't know what else to do, the book was in French, it was a dead end, and this bastard was the one who told me about it." He kicked out with his legs, hoping that Cheney was still within reach.

"I didn't know it was in French, I swear!" Cheney wheezed. He spit out some blood onto the grass. "I can tell you who can help you with it though, please, I’ll do whatever you want just keep him away from me." He tried to scoot away even furthur, but was up against the rock wall behind him, like a pinned animal.

Max tried feebly to sit up, but did not succeed. "Like I'm going to trust you…" his anger had tapered off slightly with the amount of pain he was in, and after hearing Vivian’s voice quiver like that. "I can't believe you stabbed me."

"It was self defense, I thought you were gonna kill me!" By now, Cheney was trying to stop his bleeding nose with his sleeve, "Man fuck you Max, I'm too old to scrap like I did back on Tartarus."

"I was going to kill you," Max said in a flat tone. He closed his eyes, the headache that he was going to have after this was already forming. And he meant what he had said, just a few moments before he would have happily killed Cheney with his bare fists. He had let his anger control him once again, and he was going to regret it. "Thank you for stopping me dear."

"You're too old to scrap like you did back on Tartarus too." She crossed her arms, still looking down at the two bleeding and bruised men. Vivian watched them, wary that something would set them off fighting again. Her heart was pounding, there were a lot of emotions bubbling up just under her surface now, but she tried her best to stay calm.

"Oh shit, look at that, the vicar has an old lady now huh?" Cheney commented, he did his best attempt at a whistle, but a busted lip prevented him from doing so. 

"We'll see for how much longer after that display," Vivian snorted. She took a seat next to where Max was still laying in the grass, opening up a med kit in her bag. She tossed Cheney some gauze and adreno, before grabbing some more gauze and pressing it onto Max's side to stop his bleeding. "Looks like your boy here missed the vital organs Max," she said, "You should be grateful."

"Forgive me if I don't jump for joy.." Max brought his hands up to his face, covering his eyes against the brightness of the sun. He winced as Vivian put pressure on his wound, but he refrained from any more smart comments, not wanting to dig himself any deeper into the hole he was in.

Across from them, Cheney slowly made his way to his feet. He wheezed a bit now that he was upright, eyeing Vivian and Max where they sat. "Well, that was quite a reunion Max, let's never do that again." He gave a nervous smile, "Listen… my father was a mercenary that did smuggling on the side, he lifted that book off a hermit on Scylla. If she's still there, she'll have the answers you're looking for." He fidgeted a bit nervously, looking like he would take off any second, "Listen, I hope you find what you're looking for, even if you're an old bastard."

Max attempted to laugh, but wound up coughing instead, "Sorry I beat you up you dirty rat," he managed.

"I guess we're even," Cheney said, before taking off down the river. Max and Vivian were left alone, Max aching in the dirt, and Vivian holding pressure on where he had been stabbed, thinking about how she had gotten herself into this mess.

Max sighed deeply, then winced. "I'm sorry Vivian, I should have been honest with you about all of this…" he trailed off a bit, but was met with silence, "I pray that you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

"Do you think you can stand? We need to get you back to the ship, Ellie definitely needs to take a look at this." Vivian avoided the subject at hand. Max nodded, and Vivian stood, helping him to his feet. He draped an arm over her shoulder, accepting her help in walking. He placed his hand on the gauze she had been holding onto, freeing up her bloodied hands to help keep him steady. The first few steps hurt like a son of a bitch, but as they walked it felt a bit easier.

"Max, I love you but I can't keep doing this," Vivian finally said after what seemed to be an eternity. Max's heart fluttered and then sank. She said she loved him. They hadn’t said that to each other yet, but followed by the word 'but’, that was a punch in the gut. As they plodded along slowly down the river, he felt ashamed. "I told you that if we're going to be in this together, we have to do it together. If you keep secrets from me, I don't know if I can make this work, even if I want it to." Her tone was shaken and somber, and sadly familiar to him. It was the same tone from after the fight on Groundbreaker, the same tone she had when she first arrived in Halcyon and told him everything she had gone through.

"You have always been honest with me, and I've done you a disservice by not telling you the whole truth about Cheney. I have been honest with you about everything else, I promise you." He sighed again as they continued towards the Unreliable. After she didn’t respond he continued, this time his tone was slightly more quiet and sad, "You're the only person that I've told this much about my life, all my flaws and all my failures. I haven't let anyone this close to me, ever. I suppose I am just not very good at being close to people."

Vivian considered his words as they approached the ship, but said nothing at first. He knew how she operated by now, which was pretty much the complete opposite of himself, taking some time to think and process what had happened before getting too emotional. Maybe it was something he should have been trying to emulate. "One thing at a time, let's get you to Ellie to patch you up so I can at least be just pissed at you instead of worried and pissed." He said nothing as she called for the doctor, who luckily happened to still be on board.

"Yeesh, what happened Max?" Ellie asked as soon as she took a look at him. The two women worked together to get him up to his room, where they laid him down at his bunk.

"Reunion with an old friend," Vivian answered for Max, leaning against a wall while Ellie busied herself with cleaning his wounds. "Where's everyone else at?"

Ellie informed the captain that Felix and Nyoka were out at the bar and Parvati was somewhere on board tinkering with something, as usual. "Perfect, I need a drink," Vivian murmured, "You good here?" Ellie nodded and waved her off. Max started to protest but thought better of it.

Ellie looked down at Max, "Well, what did you do to piss her off? As my fee I'll take the story in full please, this one's gotta be good." Max groaned.

Vivian departed the ship and made her way to the Tipsy Sprat, easily finding Felix and Nyoka in the small crowd of drinkers. She plopped down in a seat at their table, her own drink in hand. "Hey boss, how's it going?" Felix said cheerfully. It was clear that he and Nyoka were already fairly drunk, a state that she aspired to be in soon.

"How was doing... whatever that thing was with Max? Something about finding a dude? Sorry, I honestly kinda spaced out after you said we could go off and do our own thing." Nyoka laughed.

"It didn't go too hot," Vivian replied, "The dude we were after, Max said he was a scholar, but he was actually some guy he knew from prison, the guy who had told him about the book and well..." she took a long gulp if her drink, "Max was ready to damn near kill him, they fought, and I had to smack Max upside the head to get him to snap out of his… blood rage I guess."

Felix and Nyoka both peered at her. "Whoa," Felix responded, “Blood rage? You know, seeing how Max fights I can picture that.”

"Damn sounds like a good show." Nyoka added, "Well minus the lying part, that sucks cap, I know you and the ol’ vicar got something goin’ on, men suck!"

"Two dudes brawling it out, a revenge story between old prison rivals…" Felix mused, "Sounds like it would make a great serial. It writes itself!"

By now, Vivian was down most of her drink and her nerves were already starting to calm. "God, I didn't even tell you guys the funniest part.." Slightly removed from the incident now, she was able to look back without only seeing red, "Max has him by the collar, and the guy pulls out a knife," she gestured with her hands as she spoke, "And then Max is like 'what are you going to do Reginald? Stab me?" Her Max impression was pretty spot on after spending so much time with him. It had Felix and Nyoka laughing, and Vivian found herself laughing along with them. "And then the guy stabbed him."

"That sounds just like Max…" Felix wheezed, "What are you going to do Reginald? Stab me?" He pounded is fist on the table. After a few moments of laughter they all simmered down a bit, "Damn, he's ok though right?" Felix’s concern sounded genuine, everything about the kid was.

"Yeah, he'll be ok," Vivian replied, she placed her elbow on the table, leaning her head into her hand. The melancholy was starting to set in again, "I told him I don't know if I can make this work, this shit really threw me off today."

Felix frowned a bit, placing a hand on Vivian's shoulder, "It'll be ok boss. Max has his flaws, but anyone can see how you've influenced him." The young man shrugged, "He's not perfect, but who is out here? The road to being a good person has to have a few failures along the line."

"Amen to that Felix," Nyoka replied, raising her glass. Vivian and Felix clinked their glasses with her and drank.

"That was surprisingly deep Felix, thank you," Vivian said, smiling a bit. "You're right, I'm probably gonna drunkenly yell at him later, but we'll be ok I think." She shrugged.

"Heyyy captain, I know what will cheer you up," Nyoka said, leaning across the table with an excited look in her eye, "Felix and I went on an adventure earlier, this moron was trying to smuggle drugs using sprats…"

"Ooh, yeah we had to hunt down some missing sprats," Felix interjected, "Felix and Nyoka, team badass!"

"Ok, long story short, there was a guy 'rescuing' the sprats here in town," Nyoka grabbed her glass and drained the rest of it, "The long and short of it is, do you wanna see a really big sprat?"

Vivian's eyes lit up, "Are you kidding me? More than anything!" Felix and Vivian drained the rest of their drinks and then team badass plus Vivian were off. Their destination was pretty close, and soon enough Vivian was making fast friends with Bertrand and his sprats, including one very huge and very friendly one. Vivian parted from Bertrand's with a smile on her face, by now her buzz was wearing off and she knew that she and Max would have to talk, but she was confident with going forward.

She knocked on the door to his room, it felt kind of odd, seeing as he had been living in hers for a while now. Maybe she had been inadvertently cruel by having Ellie patch him up in here, instead of the captain’s quarters, which had been more of a home. His voice inside called out for her to come in, it didn't seem strained, which she figured was a good sign.

When she entered, Max looked a bit surprised to see her. He sat up slightly from his lying position on the bunk. As was typical, he had a book in his hand, though the book itself seemed unfamiliar. "It seems in my absence the crew has been using my room to store some of their belongings. All my books seem to have made their way to the captain's quarters, so I'm making due with this rather charming one about arson. I think it belongs to Felix." 

Max had been nervously awaiting Vivian to arrive, he had tried his best to rest, but couldn't stop thinking about what had happened and what to say to her. He had tried to distract himself with something to read, but the only thing that had been within arm's reach was the book on arson. When he saw her, he was taken by surprise, figuring it was Ellie checking on, and he resorted to his usual defense mechanism, being verbose and sarcastic.

"How are you feeling?" she asked softly,almost timidly. Even though she had been so mad at him before, and he was the one causing issues, she couldn’t help but resort to her own usual defense mechanism, being polite. She made her way towards the bunk, hesitating for a moment before taking a seat on the edge of the mattress next to him. 

"Better, thanks to Dr. Fenhill and some painkillers," he placed the book on the floor next to the bed and propped himself up with an elbow, making a bit more space for her. "She says I should be fine after a few days if I don't strain myself. But I'm more worried about my recovery with you." He looked away from her briefly, his eyes not focused on anything in particular. "I need to thank you, for snapping me out of doing something I would regret. Even after I hurt you, your kindness still extended to me, and for that I'm grateful." He wanted to reach out and grab her hand, but he thought better of it.

"You scared me again today," she said, her tone was once again sad, "after you told me that you wouldn't again." Her hands fidgeted a bit with her messy hair. "But, Felix said to me that no one's perfect out here, and that every journey has its failures. So if I love you, I need to accept the occasional fuckup."

"Felix said that? Felix Millstone?" Max replied, raising an eyebrow. He smiled a bit, taking note of the fact that she had said she loved him again. He felt his heart flutter, hearing that again. He supposed he had Felix to thank, at least in part, for Vivian's forgiveness. 

"Yeah, he surprised me. Kid has a good heart." she shrugged a bit. They sat there in silence, Vivian reached her hand down to hold his, and all seemed right again in the world.

"Well, if he has a good heart, he must get that from you. He certainly didn’t get it from me.” Max gave her a sly grin, before shaking his head a bit, his expression turning a bit more soft. “I love you too," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. "And I promise to accept your occasional fuckup as well.”

“Thanks,” Vivian replied with a smile, “How about we get you back to our room for your bed rest?”

Our room, that sounded nice. After all that had happened today, Max couldn’t help but feel grateful that the day was ending on a good note, even if he did have a stitched up stab wound and a black eye. Part of him felt like a fool, but at least he was a damn lucky fool. “I would like that very much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so!!!!!!!!!!! i had like a few directions where i was gonna go with this, so i'm probably gonna make like a little one off what if/AU story about things going BAD instead. thank you for all the kudos and bookmarks and views!


	10. Have A Nice Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _After Monarch, Scylla seemed quiet, almost tranquil. There were still primals and marauders lurking about, but in a small enough volume that Vivian felt confident that she and Max would handle themselves well enough. With supplies, some light armor, and the Bakonu journal in tow, they made their way out towards the abandoned mining settlement Cheney had described to them. By sticking to the road, they managed to avoid the worst of the primals, and they managed to luck out when it came to other things lurking about._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello its drugs time

Max was not very good at staying on the sidelines for a few days. He was confined to the ship, no fighting, no heavy lifting, Ellie's orders. Whenever the crew returned from an outing he would have a ton of questions, wanting a breakdown of what happened. When anyone returned with an injury, however minor, he felt guilty. They needed him for the Cascadia job, and he insisted they wait for him to be well again before attempting to summit Devil's Peak, so the crew mostly knocked out a bunch of small jobs around the area.

They were nothing the group couldn't handle without Max, some odd jobs for the Iconoclasts, capturing the Boarst factory for Catherine, and so on. Even so, Max started to grow restless soon after the start of his prescribed rest period. To pass the time he read and meditated, but when those got boring he took a page out of Vivian's book and started cooking meals for the crew. At first they were very imperfect, but after taking note of Max's new hobby, Vivian put aside some time to teach him a few things. He improved rather quickly, much to the crew’s relief after eating burnt cysty chops and lumpy tarmac and cheese for a few meals.

It was only a few days, but being sidelined felt like an eternity. When Ellie did a checkup and told him he was clear to head back into 'active duty', as she put it, he was so excited that he jumped up and gave her a very uncharacteristic hug. It abruptly ended with both of them agreeing to never speak of it. 

With the crew at full force once again, it was time to tackle some of the bigger missions they had on their to do list. Getting to Cascadia took a little work, but once they were in the lab, things were a breeze with their combined set of skills. Parvati spotted and dismantled traps, Felix and Nyoka handily wiped the floor with the few creatures that were about, Ellie and Vivian were able to handle all the medical and scientific jargon tossed at them from various notes and terminals, and Max was able to get them into those terminals with ease.

"Praise the… law right? That's who you praise around here right?" Vivian said after Max cracked open the most vital terminal in the place and they could get to the juiciest research and start siphoning the gas onto the Unreliable.

"Typically yes, but in this case, you can praise me." Max gave Vivian a wink as the rest of the crew rolled their eyes a bit.

"Max is back y'all," Nyoka said with a laugh, and they all laughed along with her. 

With the gas in tow, Vivian ordered Ada to set a course for Groundbreaker, wanting to get it offloaded as soon as possible. Even though she had grown fond of Monarch, it felt good to be back in familiar territory, and she could tell the crew thought so as well. Parvati couldn't wait to surprise Junlei, so Vivian gave the crew her blessing to run off and have some time on their own.

As for Max and Vivian, the plan was to hit up Scylla, and hopefully find the hermit that Cheney had told them about. Vivian assured the crew it was just a hop and a skip away, and they would be fine. Felix watched them with sad puppy eyes as they walked back towards the docking bay, even though Vivian assured him they would be back soon. She knew he would be fine with Ellie and Nyoka, and under their ‘care’ would be soon too drunk to even think about it.

After Monarch, Scylla seemed quiet, almost tranquil. There were still primals and marauders lurking about, but in a small enough volume that Vivian felt confident that she and Max would handle themselves well enough. With supplies, some light armor, and the Bakonu journal in tow, they made their way out towards the abandoned mining settlement Cheney had described to them. By sticking to the road, they managed to avoid the worst of the primals, and they managed to luck out when it came to other things lurking about.

"It's a good wonder anyone can live on this rock," Vivian said as they prowled through the abandoned buildings, trying to suss out which was occupied. She felt like they had been by here before, perhaps when trying to find that missing automech shipment, but she couldn’t recall. It could have been another identical scattering of buildings, after all.

"The marauders somehow make it work," Max replied, "How they do, I'll never know, any real supplies left here from the mining company must be gone by now. They probably rely on robbing people who decide to come here, like you and I." He shrugged, walking forward and pointing his shotgun ahead of him, just to be safe. “How unfortunate for them that we can handle ourselves out here.”

After searching the area, they were able to spot the building the hermit must have been living in. Max hesitated at the door, should he knock? Just barge in? He went with the former, giving a loud and not wholly unthreatening knock on the door. "Oh, come in!" came an unexpectedly cheerful voice from inside. Max looked at Vivian for a moment, for some reassurance, and her smile was there to give it to him.

They entered the building, and we're greeted by a cozy atmosphere, a number of plants, and an older woman who watched their movements with unconcerned half lidded eyes. "What have the solar winds deposited on my doorstep today? More dirt and debris? Or perhaps seekers of truth? I will admit I grow rather tired of the truth seekers… mayhaps you folks here to rob me? That would be much more exciting."

"What? No… I came here because I was told you were the old owner of this…" The hermit's words caught Max off guard for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure, mostly, Vivian could hear the nerves in his voice. He produced the journal, his hands shaking slightly. "I am hoping you can help me with it. It contains the answers to questions I have been trying to solve my entire life."

The hermit said nothing, simply watching Max for a few moments. After some time, she reached towards him, grabbing the journal. He held it firm for a second, but released his grip, realizing how desperate he must have seemed. "Oh how funny it is how things can just walk away sometimes…" It looked like Max was going to interject to say he didn't steal the book, but as if she could read his mind, the hermit spoke up again, "And how funny it is that this journal has walked it's way back to me. Thank you stranger."

Max wasn't quite sure how to react to that, he hadn't even considered the fact that he could just end up without answers and without the book as well. Even though this journey he had gone on had brought him to Vivian and the Unreliable, which he thanked the Grand Architect for, to come this far and be left with nothing would be unbearable.

Vivian watched them both carefully. She had intended to just sit back and let Max do his thing here, but as they lapsed into a bit of silence, she leaned forward a bit, "Is there anything you can do to help him? Like, explain what's in there?"

The hermit seemed in no hurry to respond, Vivian felt like it probably wasn't intentional, just that perhaps she lived her life at a far slower pace than most. "To explain would be impossible, to provide a translation for your friend here would take a very long time. And it wouldn't do him any good anyway." The hermit turned back to face Max, giving him an intense stare. He felt like she was looking into his soul, and he shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "I can tell you are not a patient man. Being with her has softened you, but you're still rough around the edges."

Max's eyes widened a bit. Who was this woman and how was she able to discern so much about him from just this interaction? He glanced over towards where Vivian stood. She had been leaning casually against the wall, but at that statement she stood up straight. She looked over at Max and their eyes met briefly. 

The strange silence was soon broken by Max, "Please, I've spent my whole life in contemplation and study, I'll do whatever you ask, I just want answers."

The hermit once again regarded them with a long silence, "Well, there is another way, it involves a certain combination of several… ingredients, some of which can be dangerous. This method is not for the faint of heart, or the unprepared…"

Her words sounded ominous, but Max had spoken the truth when he said he would do anything. He looked over at Vivian, once again for reassurance. She looked a bit skeptical, "You're talking about drugs right? Some sort of drug trip for spiritual enlightenment?" She crossed her arms, silent for a moment, but then shrugged a bit, "Listen, Max… if you're game for this then I am."

Now it was Max's turn to leave them in silence for a moment. He would have never expected this to be the way he would get answers, law, there were a lot of things going on in his life lately that he would never have expected. Leaving Edgewater with Vivian had sent him on a strange trajectory, but it wasn't one he regretted going on. "Let's do it," he said finally, "I can handle it." He had confidence in his voice, but deep down, he wasn’t sure. This was truly an unknown, a risk he was willing to take, but he had no idea what he would be walking into.

The hermit directed them towards the meditation room, where they would find the drugs, which she referred to as 'sacramental incense'. They were both pleasantly surprised that the meditation room seemed cozy, with a number of plants, hippie tapestries, and a few comfortable looking chairs. As Vivian looked around, Max paced around the room nervously. There were so many moments in his life that he thought would be 'the moment', and so far all of them had let him down. After so much buildup, would this be a let down too?

"You ok?" Vivian sidled up to him where he had stopped his pacing in front of the vessel in the center of the room. She grabbed his hand and interlaced her fingers with his. "If you're having second thoughts…"

"You don't have to stay," he told her, his voice quiet, "She said this could be dangerous." He was steadfast in his choice, but he was more worried about her than himself.

"We're in this together," Vivian replied, "Don't worry about me. Listen, I wasn't much of a party girl but everyone does drugs in college so…" she trailed off, letting him put together the rest of that sentence.

He shook his head a bit, "I think this is a little bit different than that." Despite his nervousness he laughed, Vivian always had a way with diffusing tense situations with humor.

"I wanna do this with you. Me and you, tripping balls. Sounds fun," she laughed as well. Maybe it seemed strange, but she was intrigued by this, it wasn't typically something that career woman Vivian would do, and that kind of excited her. This was space, she had done so many crazy things in Halcyon already that she never would have expected, and this would be another added to the list.

"Alright then," he conceded, "We do this together." He reached down towards the incense vessel and lit it, there was no going back now.

In the following moments, the drugs percolated around the room. As they waited for it to take effect, Max tried to give Vivian some meditation tips, hoping that would help the experience. They were sitting cross legged on the floor across from each other when the drugs started taking effect.

Neither of them had any idea how long they were under the effects of the drugs. In their separate trips, it felt like the world around them ceased to be. When they emerged from within the haze of the strong smelling smoke, they were still sitting there, face to face. He hadn't moved, but Max felt sweaty, and somewhere in that whole mess he had begun to cry. Vivian came out of her stupor wild eyed, her hair a mess, her arms reaching upwards. 

"Are you alright?" they both asked one another at the same time. Max nodded and began to wipe away his tears, and Vivian nodded too, trying to smooth down her tangles. They looked at each other curiously for a few moments.

"Let's get back to the ship…" Max suggested. Familiar territory sounded good right about now. Vivian agreed, and soon they were off, but not before the hermit presented them with a parting gift, some drugs to take home. They didn't speak as they traversed Scylla once more, both in their own thoughts. Luckily the area was quiet and they didn't have to fight anything on the way back. 

"You two have a nice trip?" Ada chirped as they boarded the Unreliable, painfully unaware of the irony of that phrasing. Max froze for a minute at Ada’s comment, like a kid who was trying not to appear high in front of his parents.

Vivian snorted, "Yeah, you can say that I guess. Ada, fly us back to Groundbreaker, Max and I will be in our cabin, we need some time to decompress after our trip."

They quickly made their way to the cabin, Vivian exhaled sharply as they walked through the door. She felt antsy, and was glad to be home. "Did you… see stuff?" she asked, stripping off her armor and letting it pile on the floor. When she got to her clothes, she took those off too, stripping down to her underwear. She stood there for a moment, shaking out her limbs a bit, still jittery. She made her way to the laundry pile, searching through it for a moment before finding one of Max’s tossball jerseys, which she slipped over her head.

Max was reacting in a similar way to her, feeling sort of shaken but glad to be back in their shared room. He was feeling jittery, and needed something to ground him, her voice was helping with that. "Yes…" he replied simply as he started the process of shedding his own outer layers. He was down to his boxer briefs by the time he continued, "By that reaction I'm assuming you did as well.." He ran his hands through his hair in an unsuccessful attempt to straighten it.

She reached down into the pile of laundry again, pulling a shirt out for him. Max made his way over to her, accepting it and putting it on. "What did you see?" she asked him, "Did you get the answers you were hoping for?"

Max trudged his way to the bunk, climbing on top of their makeshift extension. He sat down, leaning back on the wall parallel to the original bunk. Vivian followed and made herself comfortable in his arms, awaiting his answer. "I saw my mother…" he began, "and then I saw myself, well a version of me. It didn’t have a very high opinion of me, and well, neither did my mother. I think that maybe my whole life… I haven't been a good person." Vivian listened quietly, her head resting on his chest. Max was quiet for a moment, putting what he was feeling into words was difficult. "I don't think I got the answers to the questions I was asking, but I got the answers to the questions I should have been asking. If that makes sense…" He trailed off a bit, still trying to process it all himself. He was quiet again, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes while he thought.

"Following the OSI so steadfastly during my life made me blind to a lot of things, and too single minded," he ran his fingers through her hair as he thought, "I was using my beliefs to justify my own selfishness. I could do anything I wanted and chalk it up to being part of the Plan. Thinking back, despite my projected devoutness, I went against convention at every turn." He exhaled deeply, and she felt his chest rise and fall. "I joined the OSI because I thought it could further my life, rather than due to true faith. And when I was there, I didn’t exactly follow along with what they thought I should be doing. I went through the motions, but I never really followed the teachings of the OSI, even if I told myself I was.” Max paused, looking down at Vivian where she rested against his chest. “I think part of me always knew that, but I was too stubborn and set in my ways to acknowledge it."

Vivian waited a few moments to see if he was going to continue, she ran her thumb along his arm, thinking about what he said. "Wow, that's… a lot Max. Are you alright?" To see him do a complete one-eighty like this was jarring, even if it was possibly for the better. He knew her feelings on Scientism, even though ditching it was something she had hoped he would do eventually, she was still sad for him to lose such a big part of himself, and so suddenly.

"I will be," was his reply, "A year ago I would have been ruined, the OSI and my work were all I had. But now I have more than that." He leaned down slightly, kissing her softly on the top of the head. "Maybe it took a bit of a shock to the system for me to understand that despite all my protests, being with you has changed me for the better."

Vivian smiled a bit at that. She had once told him that she didn't want to change him, they had arguments about it, but wanting to change him wasn't the same thing as wanting some change to occur, at least that's what Vivian told herself. Everyone changes over time, and everyone is influenced by others. She hoped to be a positive influence on others, it was just a part of how she was. They lay in silence for a moment, before Max spoke up, "Look at me, rambling and ruminating as always. What did you see?"

Vivian chewed her bottom lip a bit, and slowly sat up so she could face him. His arm slipped over her shoulder with a practiced ease, like it belonged there. "I was alone with darkness all around me, I don't know how I could tell, but it was endless, the darkness…” Vivian shivered a bit, thinking back on the sensation, “I could move, like swim in it I guess, but no matter how far I went there was nothing and no one else." She paused, running her hand through her tangled hair. Max watched her intently, his expression soft. "Then all at once there were people, I would finally reach someone in this void and I would try to talk to them but they wouldn't understand me and then they would just vanish. I was just panicked, running around so fast trying to find anyone but they kept vanishing. And then I came down from the trip."

“Seems like that crazy hermit’s drugs put us both through the ringer,” Max replied, pulling her close to his chest again. She closed her eyes, comfortable to just lay her head against his chest again for a bit. She had been shaken by what she saw during her experience, wondering how something like that could hit so close to her fears and sense of isolation here. He ran his hand up and down her back a bit, and she was grateful for some comfort. “Any deep personal revelations?”

She shook her head, her face still buried in his chest. “No..” she murmured into his shirt, before pulling back a bit so she could speak properly, “Nothin’ I don’t already know. The metaphor seems pretty heavy handed, right? I’m a stranger in this world, I don’t quite belong. I’ll be damned if I let that stop me though.”

“That’s my girl,” he replied, grinning. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, both thinking about what they had gone through that day. Max was grateful that they both hadn’t come to any harm as a result of the hermit’s drugs. Just some jitters and having to take a good hard look at themselves.

“Are you super hungry, or is that just me?” Vivian said after a bit. She sat up, “I am going to take advantage of the fact that we are the only ones aboard this ship and go to the galley without pants on. That sounds really appealing to me right now.”

Max looked pensive for a moment, but then nodded, “Yeah, I’m starving,” he said, laughing a bit. “Tarmac and Cheese sounds really good right about now.” Vivian stood up and pulled him to his feet, and they were off to the galley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes its fun to make your OC their own personal acid trip


	11. Amazing and Perfect and Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Hiram Blythe, like everyone else, needed their help. Vivian was never one to shy from helping folks, so even with her fatigue and aching body, she agreed. It seemed like they had already partially helped, which was nice. MSI was already off the broadcast network, seeing as they were busying themselves with the plan to get back on the board with the materials Vivian and her crew had found for them. That left them with only the Iconoclasts to deal with, and that was another can of worms altogether. Even so, Vivian told Hiram to give them a few days, and he would be all set._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter kinda wound up mostly tying up loose ends, but you know ya girl had to toss in some cute shit

Over the next few days, the crew saw a kinder, gentler Max emerge after his experience on Scylla. However, he was still Max, and even after his declaration to the rest of the crew over dinner that he was ditching the OSI, he was still the same Max that always had a smart comment or would get irritated with whatever shenanigans of the younger crew members would get up to. He was the same Max, but it was mainly how he reacted that was different. 

Felix was the first one to see these changes in action, it wouldn’t be a bad bet to guess that he would be the first one to annoy Max since they all were aboard the ship again. Max and Felix had been tasked by Vivian to set the table for the night’s family dinner. Felix, whose attention span was smaller than a sprat, decided that it would be fun to play catch with some of the plates. "Think fast!" he cried as he attempted to toss a plate to Max. Perhaps he had forgotten for a moment that it wasn't Nyoka or Ellie he was working alongside.

Max was caught by surprise, but managed to catch the plate, even if it wasn’t an elegant catch. He frowned a bit at Felix, who was nervously awaiting some sharp words from the vicar. After a moment, Max simply shook his head and, "You ought to be more careful," he said, "Or at least give me a better warning than that. With more practice maybe we could take the show on the road, join the circus." 

Felix hesitated for a moment, not sure how he should take the comment with Max's deadpan delivery. The older man's mouth curled upward in a smile, and Felix took that as a sign to finally feel at ease. He started to laugh a bit, "When I was a kid I always thought it would be cool to run away with the circus…" he said wistfully, "Too bad they never came to Groundbreaker, not enough room to set up the tents." Both of them laughed at that.

After they were done with Liliya on Groundbreaker, the next stop was Monarch once again, to finally find the information broker, the entire reason they had gone to Monarch in the first place. Typical of Vivian to get so sidetracked, but she had no regrets heading off the beaten track and helping folks around the planet. Nyoka warned them that the trip up the mountain would be a hard one, so it was all hands on deck. After discussing logistics with Nyoka, Vivian elected to take the caves up through the mountain. 

The cave was actually pretty beautiful on the inside, the trek through it was fairly straightforward, up until they came across a rather territorial mantiqueen. "Oh shit…" Vivian murmured under her breath, before barking out some orders to the team as the fight began. Parvati, Ellie, and Felix focused on taking out the mantisaurs prowling around them, while Vivian, Max, and Nyoka focused on the queen herself. Nyoka provided great cover with her absurdly large gun, giving Max and Vivian room to work and kick some mantiqueen ass. After the little ones were picked off, Parvati, Ellie, and Max helped get the damn thing down. 

The battle was tough, Vivian took a big swipe from the queen and was immensely grateful for her new SugarOps armor. Max had said it was silly that she was favoring the 'pink armor' at first, but once he had seen how heavy duty it actually was, he had no complaints and had no qualms sporting a set himself. The crew would definitely have some bruises from this, but Vivian was always satisfied with the results of a fight when at the end everyone was in one piece. They took a quick breather after the fight, but soon again were back into the fray, this time against a small army of marauders once they exited the caves and got to the radio station.

Luckily for them, Vivian had used her silver tongue to convince the Corporate Compliance Crew to actually do their jobs, so they had some backup, which made the fight easier. The backup was sorely needed, with their current level of fatigue the crew was more liable to have some screw ups. Felix nearly fell off the staircases leading up to the radio tower, but was thankfully grabbed by Nyoka, ensuring the survival of ‘team badass’. There were a few shots that Vivian missed that she was certain she wouldn’t have otherwise, and she figured she wasn’t the only one. After a long slog, the fight was over and they reached the top of the radio tower, and the information broker himself.

Hiram Blythe, like everyone else, needed their help. Vivian was never one to shy from helping folks, so even with her fatigue and aching body, she agreed. It seemed like they had already partially helped, which was nice. MSI was already off the broadcast network, seeing as they were busying themselves with the plan to get back on the board with the materials Vivian and her crew had found for them. That left them with only the Iconoclasts to deal with, and that was another can of worms altogether. Even so, Vivian told Hiram to give them a few days, and he would be all set.

After the day they had, Fallbrook was a sight for sore eyes, as was the bed in the house that Catherine had gifted to them as a thank you for all the help around town. The place wasn’t big enough for the whole crew, so the rest headed back to their bunks on the Unreliable while Max and Vivian retired to the new digs. It felt exciting to have her own place planetside, the Unreliable felt like home at this point, but it was nice to have a grounded place of her own. Even though it was only three rooms it felt like there was some space to spread out. She and Max were starting to make it their own, and it served as a nice little retreat from everything if they needed it.

“Looks like you won’t be able to procrastinate telling Zora the bad news about Graham for much longer,” Max said as they began to settle in. He pulled off his armor, stacking it neatly in a pile on the floor. Vivian pouted as she shed her own outer layer, leaving her pile far less neat than Max’s.

“Why is it that you can always see right through me?” she said with a sigh. Vivian sat down on a nearby chair, pulling off her boots. “This sucks Max. I know Graham is kind of a crazed despot or whatever, but it’s still gonna hurt for everyone to know the truth. It’s gonna be messy.” In their explorations they had found a lot of interesting info on Monarch and those that still lives there. The most important, but probably worst of it was logs about the Amber Heights incident.

“I’m sure it will be, but they deserve to know what Graham did.” Max made his way over to her, offering her his hand. “But that’s for the morning, it won’t serve us any good to dwell on this tonight instead of sleeping off the day we just had.” Vivian agreed, and soon enough they were settled into the home’s bed, mercifully bigger than the one they had aboard the Unreliable. Vivian settled into Max’s arms, he snored a bit as he fell asleep, but she found it strangely comforting at this point. She quickly fell asleep as well, exhausted by they day they had trekking up Devil's Peak.

The next morning, both of them still ached, Vivian tried her damndest to stay in bed, but Max eventually coaxed her out. She had learned rather quickly that he was an annoyingly early riser, he usually would let her sleep in, taking some time in the mornings for himself, but on some occasions, such as this one, he would attempt to wake her over and over again until she relented. “Five more minutes………..” she attempted to bargain, but he was not having it. 

Zora took the revelation well, or well enough for someone who learned that the man she looked up to and worked closely with was responsible for the slaughter of an entire town of people. Vivian, Max, and Zora had discussed the Iconoclasts and their problems and goings at length, most definitely touching on the issue of the way Graham was running them ragged, even if it was in bits and pieces between outings. She was the first person they reported to when coming back to Amber Heights, and with the sometimes conflicting orders she and Graham gave out, they always followed what she laid out to the letter. Zora always had the more sensible leadership, and as a result of them following her orders, things seemed to be improving for the group. The only problem was that she was ready to go to war with MSI at the drop of a hat. It want happening quite yet, but Vivian was getting the feeling that just like back in Edgewater, she was going to be stuck in the middle of the conflict. 

Zora wanted backup confronting Graham, so Vivian and Max obliged, accompanying her upstairs. The exchange was tense, and Graham really dug in his heels. Vivian had hoped he would understand, but she had come in expecting him to be his same stubborn self. The hostility in the room was palpable, and Vivian was glad to be on the sidelines for once. She and Max watched the two leaders carefully, ready at a moment's notice to offer Zora some help with either words or weapons. Perhaps unavoidably, the argument ended in gunfire, and Graham lost out in that.

There was silence in the room for a few moments before Zora spoke up. "Well, here we are," her tone was flat, but Vivian could sense the emotions just under the surface. Her posture slumped, and she avoided looking towards where Graham's body lay. "I've killed a lot of people in the name of the Iconoclasts, and it never feels right, but now…" she paused, her voice wavering very slightly, "it feels especially wrong."

"I'm sorry it wound up this way," Vivian replied, stepping forward a bit to try and offer a bit of comfort. "This must be really difficult, I can't even begin to imagine." 

Zora nodded a bit, and thanked her. There was a lit that she needed to take care of now. Zora was a pragmatic person, there would be time later to mourn and process, but for now there were more pressing matters. Vivian felt bad asking her about meeting with Sanjar so soon after what had just happened, but she knew she should take this opportunity to pounce. Zora agreed to a meeting without much back and forth, so for that Vivian was grateful. If she could get the two of them to set aside their differences, Monarch had a real fighting chance. She and Max had discussed it a bit, but had agreed it was probably impossible with Graham still in charge. Now, things were different.

"I need to do what's best for my people moving forward, even if it means cooperating with Stellar Bay. I have a lot to take care of, but I cab meet in a day or so." Zora spoke with confidence, which made Vivian hopeful. She even agreed to put a pause on the Iconoclasts broadcasts, now that she needed to get the group's affairs in order. 

Max and Vivian would head back to Hiram's soon, but the more pressing matter was to see if they could convince MSI to work with the i  
Iconoclasts now that the ball was rolling. Much like many things in her life right now, this hare-brained plan to unite Monarch was going from zero to sixty real fast.

Negotiating with Sanjar proved to be easy, with the amount they had helped the town and being able to provide Zora's performance review that they had happened to find, he agreed to a meeting with the new leader of the Iconoclasts. Everything was working out so far, but at the decision of the meeting spot, a flush crept up Vivian's face that only Max knew the context of. "God what if they go into that side room and see the imprint of my ass on the dust of that desk?" she whispered in a panicked tone to Max as they left Stellar Bay. 

Max's lips curved up into a wicked smile, amused by her worry. "Relax dear, how would they even know it was your ass print?" He held her hand as they walked, trying his best to be cute, but he couldn't help but find the situation hilarious. 

Vivian scowled at him, but held onto his hand as they walked. "Promise me you'll contain your insatiable lust around that building," she said as they walked, she was still feeling somewhat mortified, but wasn't going to pass up a chance to tease him back. "Or does that not do it for you anymore?"

Max glanced over at her, he was pretty good at keeping a straight face, but she knew him well enough to see even the smallest tinge of embarrassment in his expression. "Perhaps we should discuss that later," he said, clearing his throat as they approached the old OSI building.

A small smile crossed Vivian's face, "Duly noted…" she said, and he knew that meant that she fully intended to bring it up again at her first opportunity. But how there was business to be handled, and she only hoped that the mediation went well, and that nobody took too close a look into the old office area. 

The negotiations were rocky at first, Zora nor Sanjar were slow to trust each other. Vivian was sure things were going to fall apart when Zora brought up Graham's involvement in the Amber Heights massacre, but Sanjar's genuine surprise caught her off guard. The MSI leader was taken by surprise again when Zora opened up about what had happened after she confronted Graham, and slowly they built up the trust between them. Thanks to that, and Vivian's pushing them in the right direction, the two were able to come to a compromise. Vivian and Max both breathed a sigh of relief when the two faction leaders finally shook hands. Vivian couldn't help but feel excited about the future of Monarch, the stinky planet she had somehow become so fond of.

With a lot of things to prepare for the transition, Zora was heading straight back to Amber Heights. Vivian was also inclined to head right back to Fallbrook to spend the night, but Sanjar insisted that he join him and the residents of Stellar Bay at the Yacht Club to celebrate. Vivian agreed, much to the excitement of Nyoka, Felix, and Ellie. The bar was busy, and as the night went on and the news started to spread, folks kept buying the ‘heroes' drinks. It had been some time since Vivian had gotten well and truly drunk, but it felt good to have everything work out how she intended for once, so she embraced it.

A few hours into the evening, Vivian and Max teetered up to the bar's roof deck to get some fresh air, and as would luck would have it, some time away from everyone else. Vivian leaned her elbows on the guardrail, looking out over Stellar Bay. She could see Grimm, who left the bar early to head back to his position by the landing pad. He waved at her and she waved back. Max settled in next to her, leaning forward on the guardrail as well. For a few minutes they enjoyed the view and the comparative silence up above where the party was happening. "So, Mister De Soto, does church still turn you on then?"

Max glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow. "Mister De Soto," he repeated, "Feels like its been decades since anyone has called me that." He exhaled, and was starting to feel old as well as intoxicated. Even so, he smiled a bit.

Vivian smiled back at him, "Well are you still a vicar?" she asked, standing up straight and making her way over to sit at the worn picnic table that was up on the rooftop. In her current state looking down from above was starting to make her feel a little woozy. Max turned to face her, leaving back against the guardrail.

"I certainly am no longer devout, but according to the OSI, nothing has changed, it's not like I sent them a letter of resignation or anything." Max shrugged, he hadn't really taken much time to think about the details of his identity since he personally denounced Scientism, he supposed now was as good a time as any to sort through it. "But who knows, they also might have counted me out when I abandoned my post in Edgewater to run off with a beautiful space captain."

"You're avoiding my question, though I do love the flattery," she leaned her elbows back on the table, watching him with a mischievous look in her eyes. Her head was swimming slightly from the booze, but she still had control of most of her faculties, and was not going to forget the topic at hand.

"Hm, if you must know, it doesn't take a vicar to appreciate nice architecture," he replied coyly, "Now in my old age I may have realized that the beliefs of OSI aren't the way of things, but they did go off when it comes to the decor and and the pomp and circumstance. What can I say, I am a man with opulent tastes."

"You're drinking cheap beer on Monarch and dating the mess of a captain of a ship that's literally called the Unreliable," she quipped back. Even with his new more laid back nature, Max still had that pompous streak, and Vivian considered it her duty to bring him down to earth (or well, whatever planet they were on at the time) whenever it was needed.

"Nonsense," he replied, slurring slightly. He began to make his way over to where she sat, "You are exquisite." He took a seat next to her, looking at her with fondness in her eyes. "I won't hear any more of that self deprecation from you, you are amazing and perfect and beautiful." He placed his arm around her shoulders, and leaned to rest his head on her.

"And you're drunk," she replied with a laugh, turning to give him a soft kiss on his temple.

"I would say those things even if I wasn't drunk," Max insisted, "Maybe it would come out more eloquent, but the message would be the same." 

They sat there, removed from the noise of the bar, enjoying the buzz and the satisfaction of their successes that day. The night sky above them shimmered, sometimes Vivian missed the way the stars looked above the earth, but the skies of Halcyon had their own beauty.

"What happens after all this saving the colony stuff?" Vivian said after a few moments, her voice barely above a whisper. Things were so hectic here, at least the way Vivian was living, but she thought about what a life here would be like fairly often. At first, she didn't think there was a place for her in the colony, but as things went on, she felt like she was starting to be able to picture something. Her main worry now was when that after would be, surely even after they saved the Hope colonists there would be more work to do. Halcyon was a mess, it felt like she was unraveling more and more problems the more she was here, uncovering more secrets as she went.

Max didn't reply at first, he sat, pensive for a bit. His after seemed like it had already started. After leaving Edgewater, after the book, after leaving the OSI, after falling for her. He hadn't really put much thought into after the after, since he was simply living his by just being with her. "You could do anything you wanted. You're the captain of the Unreliable, you've got friends in high places." He sat up, looking up at the sky briefly before looking back at her, "People will be lining up to hire the hero of Halcyon. Or you could just fuck off and live on Scylla like that hermit." He laughed, and she couldn't help but laugh along with him.

"Anything I want…" after all her travels she hadn't even really thought of what that would be. He was probably right though, if they survived all this craziness, the world would be her oyster. "We could live at the house in Fallbrook, I could sleep in every day…” she trailed off a bit, running through ideas in her mind of what she really wanted to do with her time. Max watched her with a smile on his face. “I could learn more about agriculture, maybe convince Catherine to let us set up a farm..”

The old Max would have been taken back by the idea, after everything he had gone through to get to this point, to just wind up back at the start as a laborer. This occurred to him briefly, but he was strangely at peace with the idea. “Sounds nice, I could have plenty of time to read, help out where you need it.”

“Yeah, sounds nice.” Vivian replied, leaning against him, and they sat like that comfortably for a while.


	12. Despite the Scruffy Appearance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Vivian's worries about the colonies were mounting. Hiram had provided the information that Phineas was after, but also a number of bits and pieces that said a lot about some things, and nothing about others. Even the “nothing” said something. The missions that Lilya had been sending them in were also adding up to something. Vivian didn't know what it was, but she wasn't convinced that it was aliens, as her employer seemed to be._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> weeps took so long with this one sorry! hopefully will have more time to work on the coming chapters soon. got some extra plans too but i'll talk about those in the end note so stay tuned!!

Vivian's worries about the colonies were mounting. Hiram had provided the information that Phineas was after, but also a number of bits and pieces that said a lot about some things, and nothing about others. Even the “nothing” said something. The missions that Lilya had been sending them in were also adding up to something. Vivian didn't know what it was, but she wasn't convinced that it was aliens, as her employer seemed to be. 

They were on their way right into the thick of it, to Byzantium itself. This just added to her worries, at present she was pacing around the galley mulling over the pile of information that had now been made available to her. Max was washing dishes and the rest of the crew had drifted out of the room after eating. "Something just doesn't add up with all this crap," Vivian said out loud as she rounded the table."And there's something still bothering me about Cascadia, there was research that they could adjust the oxygen levels and make Monarch safer, but they never did. Seems like it would have been an easy fix."

"Are you looking for a response here, or just thinking out loud?" Max replied, turning around briefly to watch her as she passed behind him, "You really ought to sit still dear, you're working yourself up again…" 

Vivian stopped in her tracks, looking over at him, bashful. "It's weird though, right?" She hopped up to sit on the counter near where he was working, "Groundbreaker hasn't been receiving any transmissions from Earth, the corporations are all hiding stuff from each other, and there's gotta be something to this weird rabbit hole Lilya sent us down…" Even though she had stopped walking around, her frenetic energy was still about, Vivian swung her feet back and forth slightly as she perched on the counter, leaving a few scuff marks on one of the drawers below. At least that would give SAM something to do.

"Be careful, you're starting to sound a bit like Miss Hagan yourself." Max finished up the last dish and placed it in the drying rack before turning to face her. He had gotten used to her patterns of behavior at this point, how she liked to think and walk, how she turned over the same information in her head over and over until either it clicked or she got too frustrated. He had learned to prod her gently in the right direction when she needed it, sometimes that meant getting her to take a break, or following her line of reasoning well enough to offer the right advice.

"Hey, I didn't say anything about aliens, so at least give me some credit here." She was still worried, but Max's gentle teasing put her a bit more at ease. A smile graced her face for the first time since dinner, and Max could see some of the tension leave her. She stopped swinging her feet about, and her posture relaxed slightly.

"I didn't say you're wrong," he replied, closing the gap between them with a few steps. He reached out, cupping her cheek gently, running his thumb over her skin. "It's a given that the board is keeping secrets from its citizens, and the different corporations keeping secrets from each other makes perfect sense as well. They may operate as a unit on paper, but each is out for their own bottom line. What's good for Rizzo's isn't always good what's for UDL. All those rats would just as easily destroy one another as help one another, if the money was right." 

He pulled his hand away, instead offering to to her to help her down off the counter. She accepted and hopped down. She had a serious look on her face for a moment as she considered what he said, it was a fairly obvious point now that she thought of it, but it definitely made things make a bit more sense. After a moment her expression softened again, "Buncha businesses trying to run a society, who decided that was a good idea?"

"I think that we will wind up getting to the bottom of this, whether we like it or not," Max told her, "Phineas has us going after Minister Clarke, and Lilya has us searching for the scientist who was in charge at Cascadia. The answers are imminent, and probably unavoidable." Max paused, a bit of distress showing on his face, travelling with Vivian had been a wild ride, but anticipated that it would only get more wild from here on out. He reached his arms around her waist, pulling her into a gentle embrace, "But... the answers might not be what you expect. Take it from an old man who's gone through all that."

Vivian frowned, "Well, we're in too deep now to bail," she said, shrugging, "Looks like we'll just have to brave high society to find those answers." She joked about it, but Byzantium was intimidating, she had been so used to traveling amongst ‘regular folks’ who always seemed to welcome a helping hand and didn’t bat an eye at the fact that she and her crew were a little rough around the edges. High society would take entirely different skillset to maneuver.

The Unreliable landed in Byzantium without fanfare. Vivian made the executive decision that all of them travelling together would make them stick out like a sore thumb, so this initial outing would consist of just her, Max, and Ellie, who was evidently from here, and would hopefully serve as a guide. "We're going to pick up some fresh fancy duds so everyone can fit in better and you won’t have to all be cooped up in here " Vivian promised. With some extra precautions, she would feel much more comfortable with letting everyone have more free reign.

Max had dusted off his vestments for the trip, to hopefully blend in a little better, but all Vivian could really do was make sure to wear her pants with the least amount of holes in them. The couple cut a mismatched figure, yet there was a certain sharpness to how they looked standing next to each other, the polished vicar and the roguish space captain. After they departed from Phineas' contact and made their way to street level, most passerby didn't bat an eye at them, which was exactly what Vivian had been hoping for. After claiming the lab on HRS-1084 for Lilya, Vivian knew she was on the Board's radar. Her goal on this outing was to get the lay of the land before delving into their other goals in the area. A quick jaunt around the plaza, buy some clothes, keep an ear out for some rumors, and not get caught easy. Or so she hoped.

Despite all the hype, Byzantium didn't actually seem to be all it was cracked up to be. There was a nifty sculpture in the square, but a lot of businesses were closed, the was trash in the streets, and those who were out and about looked dull despite their colorful outfits. "With all the stuff I heard, I kinda expected swans or like gold paved streets or something. Just something more lively…." she commented as they climbed up some stairs towards more shops, "The people here seem listless, maybe I'm just used to a life of excitement and drama."

"Trust me, everyone here thinks they're the mantiqueen's knees, but they're all just boring corporate types. The ones that have jobs anyway. The rest just sit around and talk about how great their family was. Byzantium sucks cap, why did you think I left?" Ellie spit in the street, causing some looks from those around them.

"Charming," Max said, shaking his head, "May I remind you Dr. Fenhill that we are trying to keep a low profile?" He had been to Byzantium just once, a brief visit during his schooling to visit the headquarters of the OSI, and since then it had seemed like the city was in decline. He had no doubt that the interiors of the buildings they passed by were just as pristine as ever, the residents here were sure to keep up their own appearances, even if they collectively ignored the city rotting away around them.

Luckily, even with all the other closed businesses, Jolicoeur's Haberdashery was open and they were warmly welcomed inside. The proprietor seemed eager to speak with them. Her eyes lit up, then roved over Vivian's shape. Max noticed instantly, causing him to tense up a bit, but managed to keep a level head. "My, my…" Celeste purred, her eyes lingering on Vivian's waist, "What a fine specimen we have here! Byzantium can be so droll, how wonderful to have a brash outsider to spice things up." Vivian smiled at the compliment and Max exhaled sharply. She glanced over at him briefly, she never figured him to be the jealous type, but when she thought about it it sort of made sense, but she didn't want to say anything that would call it out in the open, even if it seemed fairly obvious. Celeste laughed, looking over at Max, perhaps she could sense it as well. She flashed him a pearly smile and gave him the once over as well, with the same gusto she had given Vivian. It seemed genuine too, and now it was the captain's turn to feel a little twinge of possessiveness over Max, though she was able to look past it quite easily. "The dangerous space captain, and her… paramour, the vicar. I bet you two have a lot of stories to tell."

For some reason, something about Celeste put Vivian at ease, even if it seemed she had the opposite effect on poor Max. She was wary of all things Byzantium, but the clothier had an honesty and bluntness about her that Vivian hadn't expected to find here. In their limited interactions and eavesdropping, everyone here seemed so self absorbed and willing to overlook the flaws of the city and the colony at large. It was obvious that Celeste was perceptive as well, easily picking up on Max's mood, and the fact that they were a couple.

Vivian and Max exchange looks, his was slightly bashful, probably trying to push back his jealous response, so she took the lead. "Why thank you Miss Jolicoeur," Vivian responded, "We've gone through many exciting adventures, haven't we Max?" She wrapped her arm around his, and he was put a bit more at ease. "We're actually in the market for some clothes to blend in a little better here, for five."

"She has the bits I assure you," Max chimed in with a smirk, "despite the scruffy appearance." After his brief mood swing, he was able to think more level headed again, even with his new outlook on life, his strong emotions were still a part of him.

Celeste smiled again, though the hunger in her eyes didn't dissipate, new clothes for five would cost a pretty penny. "Excellent, let me show you around, and while we're at it, we can remind your associate here that it's frowned upon to steal hats from a fine business…" Vivian whirled around and leered at Ellie, who had been in the process of trying to cram a beret into her jacket. In their exchange with Celeste, they had both been too caught up to monitor whatever trouble Ellie was getting into.

"We'll pay for that too.." the captain said with annoyance in her voice. Beside that, the trip went off without a hitch, and soon enough they were leaving the store with shopping bags, promising Celeste they would return. Vivian was her new muse, so it seemed, and gave Vivian a list of clothes she wanted modeled. She would return later with Parvati anyway, to get her outfit for her big date with Junlei squared away as well.

Beyond that, reconnaissance in Byzantium was rather uneventful. With the lay of the land mostly understood, Vivian and co returned to the ship. The real work would begin tomorrow. Even with the clothes to better fit in, the crew wasn't fully off the leash here, Vivian thought it was too dangerous.

Despite her curiosity to answer the deeper questions about the colony, Vivian found herself dragging her feet a bit. What she was after here meant going down a path she couldn't back down from. The board was aware of her, there was no way she wouldn't be after breaking into two high profile homes without attention. So she tried her best to sleep in the next morning, even as Max rose and came and went from the shower.

As he entered the room again, Vivian pulled the covers over her head like a kid trying to avoid going to school. He watched her for a moment before busying himself with getting dressed. He had been in a similar mood before they had confronted Cheney, so he figured that it would be kind to cut her some slack. They were on the precipice of a cliff here, everyone could feel it. Once he was dressed, he sat at the edge of the bed they had cobbled together to fit the two of them, leaning over to gently rest his hand on the small of her back, "You can't hide in bed forever dear," he said in his best calm and soothing voice. 

"I know," Vivian tugged the covers more tightly around her body, but peeked her head out from under them a bit. "How about just for a little while though?" She rolled over so she could face him, and slowly eased her way up into a sitting position. Max placed his hand in her lap, and she placed her hand on top of his. 

Even with the bed head, and the imprint of the seam of her pillow on her cheek, Max thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world. "Ok, but only for a little while. Though a brave space captain once said to me 'we're in too deep to bail', and that was about a situation not so dissimilar to this one." Vivian rolled her eyes, but smiled.

Vivian relished a final few moments in bed before finally getting up and getting dressed. Her orders the previous night had been that no one should embark out into Byzantium until she gave the word the next morning. The crew had been excited to explore the golden city, so by the time Vivian and Max made it to the galley, they were all gathered, playing some card game that Vivian had never quite picked up the rules of. They all looked up expectantly as Vivian and Max entered the room. "Breakfast first, then I'll agree to set you all loose," she said plainly before any questions could be asked. 

As she prepared and ate some breakfast, Vivian dished out her orders. The crew was allowed to go out and explore Byzantium, but she wanted them to use the buddy system, and thankfully they all agreed. They had one day to get what they wanted out of the visit, there were a few tasks and errands to take care of before they even approached the minister's house or the scientist's house. "So steer clear and for god's sake don't do anything stupid," Vivian finished, looking them all in the eyes in turn. 

"Still dragging your feet I see…" Max said after the room emptied, the rest of the crew off to get dressed in their fancy new attire before departing. He had been leaning against the counter while she addressed everyone, drinking some coffee, but he approached now that it was just the two of them. 

"I'm just trying to prioritize…" she replied, looking up at him from where he settled leaning against the table, "I want to take Parvati to Jolicoeur's, and help Celeste out before we break into some houses and potentially get run out of town. I don't need your poking and prodding Max."

"Alright, alright," he shrugged, standing up straight, watching her as she stood as well, making her way to the sink to deposit her used dishes. "I suppose we ought to go and get dressed all of our finery crafted by your illustrious new friend Miss Jolicoeur."

"Friends in high places," Vivian replied with a shrug, taking his hand as they made their way down the hallway, "You almost sound like you're jealous, does the fine clothier wanting me to model for her worry you?" A faint smile crossed her lips as she teased him. She felt that things between her and Max were solid, and she would hope that he thought so as well, and that something as small as compliments wouldn't worry him too much. He hadn't said anything about the day before, so she figured he was fine.

Max pursed his lips briefly, "I see how you take to flattery Viv." He hesitated briefly, the old Max would have had a fit of rage in that store, and the new Max wasn't far enough removed to be completely placid, even if he was able to hold his temper and appear so. He felt foolish hanging onto that twinge of jealousy. Before he met Vivian and before he experienced what could pass as enlightenment, envy of others had been a big part of him. Having something so familiar creep up was dangerously comfortable, and he had been putting it in the back of his mind trying to avoid it.

Vivian had been lighthearted when she made the comment, but she picked up on his hesitation right away. She stopped in her tracks, they had made it to the stairs, Max felt the tug of her stopping and looked back at her. She was a step higher than him now, just barely taller than him as she looked down at him with softness in her eyes, "Max…"

He shook his head a bit, and his expression shifted from worry, "I'll admit my first reaction was jealousy, but I have more than enough faith to not let those feelings control me anymore." He smiled at her, and stood up on his toes to give her a soft kiss on the cheek. 

He made motions to begin walking again, but she wrapped her arms around him and he was still. She hugged him tight, pressing her cheek up against his, her chin on his shoulder. "Max, I love you, and if nothing we've gone through has changed it yet, nothing will." She could feel his breathing, calm and steady as she spoke, after a moment she pulled back, smiling softly at him. "I'm going to get complimented a lot you know, being a very beautiful and sexy space captain, it can't be helped."

Max laughed, giving her a squeeze, "And modest too.." He had been able to look past his initial burst of jealousy, but her words also helped. 

"Naturally…" she replied, hopping down a step as they started walking again. "You're not too bad either, tall, dark, and handsome, dignified with a wild streak.." she trailed off a bit as they walked, humming a bit, a tune Max didn't recognize.

As much as he teased her for being a sucker for flattery, when she complimented him like this he was putty in her hands. As they entered the captain’s quarters he had the brief notion of grabbing her and utilizing that wild streak she so admired, but at this rate they were burning daylight, and he was loathe to be seen as hypocritical. "You can continue flattering me all you like… tonight after some headway is made in Byzantium," he pulled away from her and made his way to the rack they stored their weapons on, "Don't think that doesn't count as you procrastinating, even if I'm enjoying it.." 

Vivian pouted, but made her way to the wardrobe to begin putting on her new, Byzantium approved, captain's clothing. "You're a wicked old man Max De Soto.." she feigned sounding hurt as she buttoned up her coat. 

“But I’m your wicked old man,” Max grinned at her and tucked a pistol into a shoulder holster to go under his overcoat. Carrying around visible weapons around the city would draw too many eyes, but walking around without some form of weapon wasn’t an option. It was Vivian’s other rule, besides the buddy system. 

Prevented from further dragging her feet on the issue, soon enough Vivian was departing the Unreliable alongside Parvati. Felix and Nyoka had gone off together, deciding to reunite ‘team badass’, and for once, Max and Vivian separated, with Max agreeing, if reluctantly, to be Ellie’s buddy for the day.

“You know, I don’t really need a buddy vicky….” Ellie said as she walked down the avenue alongside Max, “I know this place like the back of my hand, and I don’t stick out as much as the rest of you guys. You can let me off the leash, I won’t tell, I was just gonna kick around the bar anyway.”

Although he had calmed down a bit since visiting the hermit on Scylla, Max was still Max and scowled at Ellie, “I’m not even a vicar anymore, really, so that nickname doesn’t even make sense anymore,” he paused, watching her carefully, “We had some intel that some of Minister Clarke’s guard frequent Billingsley’s, we can head there, hit two birds with one stone,” his tone was slightly irritated, but not the usual level of annoyance Ellie was used to. This, alongside the potential mission, piqued Ellie’s interest, and she agreed.

Celeste was delighted to see Vivian again, and she fretted over Parvati as she had done picking out clothes with the captain. The price of Parvati’s suit was steep, but Vivian offered to pay, since they had been able to accumulate a fair amount of bits since blowing them all on the Monarch Navkey. Besides, Parvati deserved it.

"Oh, that's too steep, captain, it's alright, I can figure something else out." Parvati protested. She'd never owned anything that expensive before, and she was pretty sure all of her stuff didn't even amount to that much. 

"I insist," Vivian replied with a reassuring smile, "we have plenty, and we're about to get a big payout from Lilya. Consider it a bonus for all the work you've done on the ship." Vivian placed her hand gently on the mechanic’s shoulder.

Parvati fidgeted a bit, but nodded. Her nervous look was soon replaced with an excited one, "Oh my law, I'm gonna look so handsome!" 

"You certainly will, or my name isn't Celeste Jolicoeur…" Celeste chimed in as she started taking measurements. "And, if I may be so bold, this girl of yours is lucky. You won't need the suit to sweep her off her feet, but it will certainly be a nice touch." After all was said and done, measurements, and modelling, Celeste had another request, hunting some creatures for materials for what she had been working on, inspired by the captain and her crew. Vivian agreed, even though part of her thought Max might nag her for it.

The crew reunited that night over dinner and drinks in the galley, going over the events of the day. "There's a whole system of tunnels under this city," Nyoka recounted, "Felix and I were able to get into a lot of places we weren't supposed to," She paused to drink some of her Zero Gee, but continued quickly seeing the look that crossed Vivian's face, "Very carefully of course. We even snagged some of Minister Clarke's mail and no one was none the wiser."

Felix produced a small pile of letters and a parcel, "Could be a good cover to get into the minister's place!" 

"Well, as much as I loathe to one-up team badass…" Ellie began, a smile forming on her face, "Max and I were able to procure a biometric ID from one of Minister Clarke's guards." 

On cue, Max took the ID out of his jacket pocket, placing it on the table and sliding it over towards where Vivian sat. "Some guards were celebrating the newest one's promotion at the bar, and let's just say the newbie had too much to drink…" 

"I see everyone had a productive day," Vivian pulled the ID close to her, inspecting it briefly before placing it in her pocket for safekeeping. "After Jolicoeur's, Parvati and I cased Minister Clarke's and then the house the board is putting up the scientist. Clarke's is heavily guarded, but with what you all put together today we should be good. And the scientist's doesn't seem to be guarded at all, with the keycard from Lilya we can get in easy." Everyone around the table looked quite pleased with themselves, "We're gonna take a few days and really prepare for this. There are a few things I wanna take care of, then we storm the castle." 

Everyone was in agreement, even Max, though Vivian had a feeling he would have something to say in private. Vivian continued in a no-nonsense rather captainly tone, "We're headed to Monarch to do some hunting for Jolicoeur, and while we do that I'm letting Parvati take the ship to Groundbreaker so she can visit with Junlei."

If anyone was going to protest the detour, they didn't have time before Parvati chimed in, "I'm gonna ask Junlei to be my girlfriend!" Her level of sheer exuberance was something no one could argue with, "And I wanna thank you all, especially the captain, for helping me find all I needed for our date."

After the announcement, there were toasts to be had, and the crew was able to relax while Ada piloted them towards Groundbreaker. Vivian and Max retired before the younger folks, heading to the captain's quarters. They were both quiet as they settled in, Vivian anticipated Max would have something to say, but so far he was quiet.

"Excited to do some hunting, or not so much?" she finally prodded as she plopped down next to where he had settled into bed. Vivian snuggled up next to him, hoping that would put him in a more non-judgemental mood than he was that morning.

He was quiet for a moment, but let her settle in with her head resting on his chest, which she thought bode well. "I used to believe Byzantium would be the place to be, if I could get there. Money, high society, and all that. But Fallbrook sounds nice right about now." He ran his fingers through her hair, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Haven't gotten my hands dirty in over forty-eight hours, so hunting sounds good as well." He smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm glad… I was preparing for another procrastination lecture…" Vivian chuckled, squeezing his side a bit with her hand. "And I'm not, by the way. There's no deadline right? And I'm the captain, sometimes detours are required." She sat up, smiling at him, "Being in Byzantium felt so weird, I felt really out of place, even more so than usual. I think that's why I gravitated towards Celeste a bit, she was so much less stuck up than everybody else, she was interested in hearing our exploits, and of course the compliments helped."

Max rolled his eyes, but smiled, “I have been thinking about it, and maybe too harsh on you earlier….” he said after a few minutes of silence had passed between them, “I thought I was giving an encouraging push, but I might have overstepped, I didn’t intend to make you nervous about your decisions.” He had a rare, guilty look on his face, but Vivian just shook her head and smiled at him.

“It’s alright, sometimes I do need a push, otherwise I could spend all day in bed.” Vivian winked and laughed, leaning in close to him. After spending a few days in Byzantium, it felt so comfortable to be lying next to him. 

“Hmmm, perhaps that isn’t a bad idea...” he replied as they intertwined themselves, settling into a comfortable position as they drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back and forth, but i love monarch as a setting soooo here we go!!
> 
> soooo i have some random other stuff planned, i think i might wind up taking a short break from this main story just so i can come back to it more fresh. i have some WIPs ideas for a few things, i wanna make a few shorter AU stories and perhaps some side stories with the other crew members, so i might churn a few of those out while they're in my brain! they'll probably be put under a related work or something so easy to find!
> 
> one of these is gonna be the AU i mentioned before where cheney goes bad and they split ways and Max indeed starts working as a smuggler
> 
> the other is an AU that kinda just popped into my head where hawthorne lives but ditches vivian so she gets stranded in edgewater
> 
> uhhh i also have the beginnings of a felix/female captain fic. the captain for that one is like way different than vivian lol
> 
> but this story is also my babie and i love them so there will be more :)


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